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TO THE CASTLE THAT LAY 
EAST O’ THE SUN AND 
WEST O’ THE MOON 












From Story (The Parson and the Deacon) 


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EAST O’ THE SUN AND 
WEST O’ THE MOON 

Copyright 1924 by Albert Whitman & Company 
Chicago, U. S. A. 


WORLD-WIDE 
LITERATURE IN 
JUST RIGHT BOOKS 

HEIDI 

By Johanna Spyri 

STORIES FROM AN INDIAN CAVE 
By Carolyn Sherwin Bailey 

HANS ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 
Translated by Carl Siewers 

BEST TALES FOR CHILDREN 
By Mary Dickerson Donahey 

Published by 

ALBERT WHITMAN & CO. 
Chicago, U. S. A. 



From Story (The Giant who had no 
heart in his body) 


A JUST RIGHT BOOK 
PUBLISHED IN THE U. S. A. 


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FOREWORD 



OLK tales are a direct expression of the childhood of a 


race, and must always partake in character of the nursery 
in which first they were told, of the land which was the cradle 
of that race. Oriental legends are filled with all the rich 
imagery of the fabled East. They teem with white ele¬ 
phants, talking monkeys, enchanted parrots, and wise old 
cobras: they shimmer with rich fabrics, they glitter with 
jewels, they breath the very air of: 


gooblp place, a gooblp time, 
Jfor it toas in tfje golben prime 
<2^1 goob ^aroun=al=3Rascl)tb.” 


The myths of the Greeks clothe the sights and sounds of 
nature, the mountains, the waterfalls, the wave-beats on the 
shore, with that classic beauty that was Greece, while the 


6 


Romans added, in those heavy feasts on Mount Olympus, an 
expression of that love of living that was so characteristic¬ 
ally Roman. 

Through the Indian legends, the only real American folk 
tales we possess, sounds the thunder drum, the lightning 
crash, the vivid outdoor life the Indians knew in the forests 
that walled the nursery of their race. 

The folk tales of a nation reflect the land from which they 
spring, and in this collection of legends from the Norwegian 
people, the stories have caught the rugged character of the 
country itself, the hills, the broken coast line, the fiords, with 
their clear cold depths sparkling blue in the vivid northern 
sunshine. 

The very characters of these tales breathe the spirit of the 
place. They walk with the stars, they talk with the moon, 
they run with the rivers, they are lifted high on the wings 
of the winds, and carried to strange lands east of the sun and 
west of the moon, as Norway lies at the gateway of those 
dark polar seas, where distances are vast, and even estab¬ 
lished directions begin to reverse themselves, and it is this 
casual acquaintance with natural forces, this easy familiarity 
with elemental things, that gives them a charm and an indi¬ 
viduality all their own. 

But here and there they show a kinship with old tales of 
other lands, the kinship that only proves that all the races 
were rocked in the same first cradle. In the first story, which 
gives the collection its delightful name, one finds that legend 
of love that doubted, that would be answered, and so lost all, 
the same story as that told in the Cupid and Psyche myth, 

7 


the very theme of the legend of Eilsa and Lohengrin, the 
Knight of the Swan Boat. 

Trolls do their part in giving these tales a distinctive flavor 
too. 

“Up tfje airp mountain, boton tfje rusfjp glen, 
bare not go afjuntmg, for fear of little men.” 

we cannot but admire the courage and cleverness of that 
“lad who fooled the troll and won the princess” and our re¬ 
gard for him is only heightened by finding a parallel for his 
quick-wittedness in that of Hansel, in the Grimm story of 
Hansel and Gretel. 

Then there is a sturdy democracy in these tales that ac¬ 
cords perfectly with the present status of royalty in Norway . 
Ragged lads say “Yes sir” quite unconcernedly, to kings, 
with never a hint of that humble phrase “Your Majesty” on 
their lips, and kings walk about their palace grounds and ask 
casual questions of total strangers in the most delightfully 
informal manner possible. 

Nor is there mere simpering sweetness and useless pretti¬ 
ness in the princesses of these tales. They are ladies who do 
things, and while “the Princess who would not be silenced” 
seems to have been a somewhat sharp tongued and shrewish 
person, yet she gave promise of being the reverse of dull as 
a life partner. 

There is something for everyone in these quaint tales. 
Children will be sure to recognize their friends of the zoo in 
the “cat on the Dovrefell,” “the Stumpy-tailed Bear,” “the 
three Billy Goats Gruff” and “Father Bruin.” 


8 


Fathers and mothers will acknowledge the truth of that 
homely aphorism “One’s own children are always prettiest.” 
Wives are sure to laugh in complete understanding of the 
plight of that “husband who was to mind the house” and who 
found the simple domestic tasks so much more complicated 
than he had supposed. 

Husband will see in that amiable wife of Gudbrand-on- 
the-hillside who thought her good man perfect no matter what 
he did, that greatly to be desired wife of Holy Writ whose 
worth was far above rubies. 

And teachers can find no greater lesson in the proper use 
of our possessions, and a proper appreciation of our blessings 
and benefits, than that to be found in “Why the Sea is Salt,” 
with its story of man’s eagerness to gain sudden riches with¬ 
out caring to learn the proper use of them. This story well 
deserves to stand among the world’s classics. Admirably 
translated, preserving the simplicity and straightforwardness 
of the originals, these tales form a series of vivid word pic¬ 
tures not easily forgotten, bright playthings from the world’s 
childhood. 



9 




From Story (The Two Brothers) 



i 









Page 


East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon. 15 

The Three Brothers. 29 

Why the Bear Is Stumpy-Tailed. 9 

The Three Billy Goats Gruff. 41 

The Lad Who Fooled the Troll and Won the 

Princess. 44 

Why the Sea Is Salt. 56 

The Princess on the Glass Hill. 69 

One’s Own Children Are Always the Prettiest 84 

The Seven Colts. 87 

The Righteous Penny. 97 

The Cat on the Dovrefell. 107 

The Husband Who Was to Mind the House.. 110 


11 















(Contents-Continued 


Page 


The Lad Who Went to the North Wind. 114 

The Parson and the Deacon. 122 

The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body. 125 

Soria Moria Castle. 137 

The Two Brothers. 150 

The Twelve Wild Ducks. 161 

Gudbrand-on-the-Hillside. 173 

Father Bruin. 180 

The Princess Who Would Not Be Silenced... 184 


jfull=<Page Color SUusrtrattonS 

Page 

“Rap, Rap, Rap,” Three Times, Just Like 

That .Frontispiece 

She Made Up Her Mind to Go With the 

Bear. 17 

The Bear Told Her to Ring the Bell. 19 

Three Drops Fell. 23 

The Chips Flew to All Sides. 25 

The Spade Began to Dig and Delve. 37 

He Walked Along the Beach, Scattering the 

Grain. 48 

One of the Trolls Came Out With the Quilt 49 


12 















lUsit of SUusitrattonS —Continued 


Page 

They Began to Bid for the Bacon. 61 

They Met the Stream of Broth and Her¬ 
rings . 65 

In the Middle of the Meadow Was a Barn 68 

Right Up the Slippery Side He Rode. 81 

There Was a Small Door in a Birch Tree 86 
You Poor Old Stone, You Must Be Very 

Cold... 99 

The Mice Came Swarming Out When Din¬ 
ner Was Served.. 103 

How Easy It Would Be for Me With Such 

a Cloth .. 117 

The Stick Began to Beat the Innkeeper... 121 
He Put the Saddle on the Wolfs Back.... 129 
He Was Able to Lift and Swing the Sword 141 

The Ring Has Lost Its Power. 145 

The King of England Is Losing His Sight 153 

Thus True Became a Rich Man.... 159 

He Set His Horse at the Hill and Rode 

Away.. 107 

The Youngest One of Them Had a Duck’s 

Wing. 171 

So He Let It Be Known All Over the Land 185 
Here Is the Equal, If You Please. 191 


13 














14 










O NCE upon a time there was a wood-cutter 
who had a large family of children, but who 
was so poor that he could not give them much to 
eat or wear. Fine looking children they all were, 
but the youngest daughter was the fairest of them 
all. Indeed she was so lovely that such as she had 
never before been seen. 

One evening late in the fall they were all sit¬ 
ting around the fire. Outside it was cold, dark, and 
rainy, and the wind blew so hard that it shook the 
whole cottage. All at once they heard: “Rap, 
rap, rap,” three times, just like that. The father 
went outside to see who it could be and, what 
should he find there but a Great White Bear! 


15 











16 East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon 


“Good evening to you,” said the Bear. 

“The same to you,” answered the wood-cutter. 

“Please give me your youngest daughter,” said 
the Bear, “and I will make you as rich as you are 
poor.” 

The father thought it would be very nice to 
be rich, but he did not want to give up his fairest 
daughter. However, he said that he would ask the 
girl herself about it and went to tell her what the 
Bear had said. 

When she heard what the Bear wanted, the girl 
was very much afraid and did not want to go with 
him at all. So the father opened the door just a 
little and called out to the Bear, then shut it again 
quick and tight. But the Bear called back: 

“Think it over, and I will come back again 
next Thursday night for your answer.” 

And so it was that in the days that followed 
the girl kept thinking how nice it would be for her 
father and all of them to be rich. At last she made 
up her mind to go with the Bear, and mended her 
ragged clothes and made herself as neat and as tidy 
as she could for the journey. But indeed the pack¬ 
ing did not give her much trouble. 

Sure enough, when Thursday evening came, 
the bear rapped three times on the window pane. 








She made up her mind to go with the Bear, and mended her ragged clothes 


17 



18 


East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon 


The girl bade her family good bye, and went out 
to meet him. He asked her to sit on his back, and 
as soon as she was there, with her little bundle 
tucked under her arm, away they went. After they 
had gone part of the way, the Bear asked her if she 
felt afraid. 

“No! not a bit,” answered the girl. 

“Well, just you hold tight to my coat and there 
will be nothing to fear,” said the Bear. 

And so they rode on and on, until at last they 
came to a huge mountain. The Bear rapped on the 
side of it, a door sprung open, and in they went. 
Within there was a castle of many rooms all lighted 
up. Silver and gold shone everywhere and there 
was a table all laid with the best things you ever 
saw. The Bear gave the girl a little silver bell and 
told her to ring it if there was anything that she 
wanted. 

When she had eaten her nice supper, she felt 
very sleepy and wanted to go to bed. So she rang 
the bell. No sooner had she touched it than she 
found herself in a lovely bed room with two beds 
as fair and white as any one could wish. But after 
she had gone to bed and blown out her candle, 
some one came into the room and lay down on the 
other bed. Every night this same thing happened 







The Bear told her to ring the bell if there was anything she wanted 


19 


East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon 


but she could not find out who it was because he 
always came in the darkness and was gone before 
morning. 

And so time went on, and though the girl had 
all she wanted she began to feel very lonely and 
homesick. She had no one but the Bear to talk to— 
and she soon grew tired of that. Then she could 
not help wondering who it could be that came to 
her room every night. Soon she grew tired and 
silent and did not care for the fine food any more. 

At last one day the Bear came to her and said: 
“Why are you so sad? I have given you the castle 
and all its riches and I ask only one thing in return 
—ask no questions, only trust me and every thing 
will come out all right.” 

So the girl tried hard to do as she was asked, 
but she could not get any peace of mind. She just 
had to know who it was that slept in the other bed 
every night. 

At last she could stand it no longer, and when 
she was sure he was fast asleep, she got up, lighted 
a candle, and held it over the bed. What do you 
suppose she saw? None but a young Prince so fair 
and lovely that she could not help stooping down 
and kissing him, but as she did so, three drops of 
candle grease fell upon his shirt and wakened him. 





East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon 


21 


“Oh! what have you done,” he cried. “You 
have made us both unhappy. If you had only done 
as I told you, the year would soon be up and I would 
be free. I have a wicked step-mother who has be¬ 
witched me so that I am a Bear by day and a human 
being only at night. But now, all is over and I must 
•go to her. She lives in a castle that is East O’ the 
Sun and West O’ the Moon, and there also lives a 
Princess with a nose three yards long, and now I 
will be forced to marry her.” 

The girl wept and pleaded with him, but it was 
no use, for he had to go. Then she asked him if she 
might go with him. 

“No!” he said, “that can never be.” 

“Tell me the way, then,” she went on, “and I 
shall find you.” 

“You can try,” he said, “but there is no real 
way to the castle, East O’ the Sun and West O’ the 
Moon, and I am afraid that you will never find it.” 

At that, the castle and the Prince disappeared, 
and the girl found herself lying in a green spot in 
the dark woods, with her poor little bundle lying 
beside her. 

She cried and cried until she was tired, and 
then she started out to find the handsome Prince. 
She walked and walked for many days and she 





22 


East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon 


asked every one she met if they could tell her the 
way to the castle that lay East O’ the Sun and West 
O’ the Moon. But no one ever seemed to know any 
thing about it, and she had almost lost hope, when 
she came to the house of the East Wind. 

“Yes, I have heard of that castle,” said the East 
Wind, “but I have never been so far and I do not 
know the way. However, just you sit on my back 
and I will take you to my brother, the West Wind, 
who is much stronger than I and may know the 
way, too.” 

She did as she was told, and off they went. But 
the West Wind could not help her either. 

“But there is my brother, the South Wind,” he 
said, “and he has been both near and far. Perhaps 
he can tell you the way. So sit upon my back and 
I will carry you thither,” and off they went with 
such speed that they were soon there. 

The West Wind asked the question once more 
and the South Wind answered: 

“I have been to many places in my time, but 
so far as that, I have never blown. But just sit 
upon my back and I will take you to my brother, 
the North Wind, who is the strongest and oldest of 
us all. If he does not know the way, you will never 
find it.” 






23 
















24 


East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon 


And off they went faster than ever before, and 
soon they came to the North Wind. He was very 
ugly and wild and they could feel his cold, puffing 
breath a long way off. 

“What do you want!” he cried in such a voice 
that they both shivered. 

“Do not be so cross, brother mine,” the South 
Wind said. “You are so strong and wise that I 
have brought this girl hither because I thought you 
could tell her the way to that castle that lies East 
O’ the Sun and West O’ the Moon.” 

“I know quite well where it is,” answered the 
North Wind, “for I once blew an aspen leaf there. 
But it made me so tired that I could not blow for 
nearly three days after. However, if you want to 
go so badly and are not afraid, I shall take you on 
my back and try to get you there.” 

So the North Wind blew himself up until he 
was very big and blustering, and away they went 
over towns and oceans, and wherever they came, 
the storm tore up houses and trees, and on the sea 
the ships had a hard time of it. On and on they 
flew, farther than anyone could believe, and always 
the North Wind swept out over the ocean. But he 
grew more and more tired and sank lower and lower 
until the foam from the waves touched his heels. 





East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon 25 

“Are you afraid?” he asked. 

“No, not at all,” answered the girl. 

They were not far from land and the North 
Wind had just strength enough to toss her up on 
the beach close to the castle that was East O’ the 
Sun and West O’ the Moon, but then he was so 
weary and worn that he had to rest several days 
before he could start back. 

The girl began to look around for the Prince 
but not a living soul did she see. She seated her¬ 
self under the windows of the castle, and as the sun 
went down, a great crew of witches and trolls came 
tumbling up out of the ground, making a great 
noise, and running hither and thither. The girl 
was very much frightened at first but soon she took 
courage and spoke to one of them: 

“Please tell me what is going to happen here, 
since you are so busy? And maybe you would give 
me a little to eat, I am so hungry.” 

“Ha, ha!” laughed the old witch she had 
spoken to, “where do you come from that you do 
not know that tonight the Prince is going to choose 
his bride. When the moon comes up over the tree 
tops, we will all meet under the old oak, and the 
Prince will choose the one who can wash three spots 





26 East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon 


of tallow off his shirt. Ha! ha!” she cried again, 
with a terrible laugh, and then hurried away. 

Though the girl was really very much afraid, 
she bravely followed the trolls and witches to a 
clearing in the woods under the big oak tree. The 
moon shone down on a huge cauldron filled with 
boiling, soapy water, and all the trolls and witches 
grouped themselves around it. You can well be¬ 
lieve that it was not a very goodly company to look 
at. 

Then the Prince came and he saw the girl right 
away, but said not a word. Presently they began 
the trial. A witch with a nose three yards long took 
up the shirt and washed away as fast as she could, 
but the more she washed, the worse the spots be¬ 
came. 

“Ah ha, you do not know how to wash,” cried 
a very old witch, “let me try.” 

But she had no better luck than the first. Then 
all the other witches and trolls tried but the spots 
only grew bigger and blacker and the shirt looked 
as though it had been up a chimney. 

“Oh, you are all of you no good,” cried the 
Prince, “not one of you knows how to wash. But 
there is a strange girl standing yonder. Let us see 






East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon _27 

if she can do better. Come and wash it clean,” he 
called to the girl. 

“Well I can try,” she said. 

And no sooner had she slipped it into the 
water, than all the spots came out, and the shirt was 
as white as snow. 

“Here is the one I choose for my bride,” cried 
the Prince—and at the same insant the sun rose 
over the woods. The witch with the long nose was 
so full of rage that she broke into pieces, and all the 
other trolls and witches did the same. And the 
pieces were scattered all over and could not be put 
together again. 

But the Prince took the girl by the hand and 
together they hurried away as fast as ever they 
could from the castle that lay East O’ the Sun and 
West O’ the Moon. 






The chips flew to all sides (The Three Brothers) 


28 




-n-ie THR.ee brothcrs 



O NCE there was a man who had three sons, 
Peter, Paul, and Espen. Espen being the 
youngest was “* Boots,” of course. But they were 
all the fortune that the man had, he was so poor. 
Indeed he did not have even a single penny. He 
told his sons again and again that they must go out 
into the world and seek their fortune, for at home 
they would starve to death. 

Some few leagues from their cottage was the 
King’s palace and just outside the King’s windows 
had grown a great oak so big and dark, that it hid 
all the light from the palace. Now the King had 
promised a great sum of money to the one who 
could fell the oak, but no one had been able to do it 

*A Danish nickname for the youngest son of a family. 

29 



30 The Three Brothers 


for as soon as one chip of the trunk was chopped off, 
two more grew in its place. Then the King wanted 
very much to have a well dug that would hold water 
all the year around. Everyone near him had wells 
but he had none, and he thought that a great shame 
indeed. 

So he promised gold and costly gifts to anyone 
who could make him such a well, but thus far, no 
one had been able to do it. For the palace stood 
on a great hill, and when one dug down a few 
inches, he found solid rock. But the King had his 
heart set on having these two things, so he caused 
it to be told at all the churches in the land, that the 
one who could fell the oak and dig the well that 
would hold water all the year around, should have 
his daughter and half the kingdom besides. 

Of course you may know that there were many 
who tried, but all their hacking and all their dig¬ 
ging was of no avail. The oak only grew bigger 
and stouter for every blow, and the rock was as hard 
as ever. 

Now the three brothers thought they would 
like to try their fortune and their father did not 
hold them back, for even if they could not win the 
Princess and half the kingdom, they might find a 





31 


The Three Brothers 

good master and good work somewhere, and that 
was all that he asked. 

So all three brothers started off together and 
when they had walked a little way they came to a 
wood with a steep hill rising on one side of it. They 
could hear someone hacking away up there among 
the trees. 

“I wonder who it can be that is chopping up 
there,” said Espen. 

“You are always wondering at something or 
other,” said both Peter and Paul. “Is it so strange 
that a wood cutter should be working up there?” 

“Well I want to see who it may be just the 
same,” said Espen, as he started up after the sound. 

“Oh well, if you are such a child, it serves you 
right to be taught a lesson,” cried the other brothers. 

But Espen paid no attention to them and 
climbed the hill until he came to the spot where the 
sound came from. And such a funny thing he saw 
there! It was an ax chopping away at a fir tree, all 
by itself. 

“Good day,” said Espen. “So you stay here and 
chop away all by yourself?” 

“Yes,” answered the ax, “and here I have stood 
a long, long time, waiting for you.” 






32 


The Three Brothers 


“Well, here I am now,” cried Espen, and took 
the ax and put it in his wallet. 

When he came back to his brothers they 
laughed and made fun of him. 

“Well, what did you find up on the hill there?” 
they asked him. 

“Oh, nothing much,” answered Boots, as they 
walked on, “It was just an ax we heard.” 

A little further on they passed under a steep 
rock, and the sound of someone digging came down 
to them. 

“I wonder who it can be that is digging on top 
of that rock?” said Boots. 

“There you are again with your wondering” 
said Peter and Paul. “Have you never heard a 
woodpecker tapping at a tree before?” 

But I should like to see for myself, just the 
same,” answered Boots, and in spite of their laugh¬ 
ter he began to climb the rock. 

When he reached the top he saw that it was a 
spade that stood there digging all by itself. 

“Good day to you,” said Boots. “So you stand 
there and dig all by yourself?” 

“Yes, I do,” answered the spade, “and that is 
what I have been doing these many years, waiting 
for you.” 




The Three Brothers 33 


“Well, here I am now,” said Boots, and tak¬ 
ing the spade, he took off the handle, and put both 
in his wallet. 

“Was it anything strange and wonderful that 
you saw up there?” asked his brothers when he came 
down again. 

“Oh, no,” answered Boots. “It was nothing 
much—only a spade.” 

So they walked on a little farther until they 
came to a brooklet, and as they were all very thirsty 
from their long walk, they lay down at the banks 
to drink. 

“I wonder where this water comes from,” said 
Boots. 

“And I wonder if you have lost what little 
sense you once had,” said the other two, together. 
“Wondering where the brook comes from indeed! 
As if you had never seen water rising from a spring 
in the earth.” 

“Yes, I know,” said Espen, “but still I want to 
see it with my own eyes,” and off he went, following 
the brook and paying no heed to the laughter and 
teasing of his brothers. 

He walked on and on, and the brook grew 
smaller and smaller. Then when he had gone a 
little farther still he found out where the water 





34 


The Three Brothers 


came from. And do you know, it came trickling 
out of a great walnut! 

“Good day to you,” said Espen. “So you lie 
there and trickle all by yourself?” 

“Yes, so I do,” answered the walnut, “and here 
have I trickled and waited for you these many 
years.” 

“Well, here I am now,” said Boots, and he took 
the walnut and putting a bit of moss in the hole 
so that the water would not run out, he thrust it in 
his wallet. 

Did you find out where the water came 
from?” asked the brothers. “It must have been a 
wonderful sight.” 

Oh, it ran out of a hole, that was all,” said 
Espen, and again they laughed and made fun of 
him, but he did not care. 

“I had a good time finding it, just the same,” 
he said. 

When they had walked a bit farther, they came 
at last to the King’s palace. As many had heard 
that one could have the Princess and half the king¬ 
dom, if he should but fell the oak, and as many had 
tried, the oak was just twice as big as it had been 
before. For it seemed that the more they chopped 
it, the more it grew. 





The Three Brothers 


35 



“Here have I trickled and waited for you these many years 1 * 


So now the King had grown tired of having 
the tree become even larger and he let it be known 
that should any one try to fell it and fail, he would 
be put on a barren island all alone. 

But this did not frighten the brothers at all for 
they were sure that they could do it. Peter, being 
the oldest, was the first to try, but he had no better 
luck than all the rest before him. For every chip 
he cut off, two grew in its place, and the King’s men 
took him, and bound him hand and foot and put 
him on the island. 







36 


The Three Brothers 


Then Paul tried and fared no better, and then 
at last it was Espen’s turn. But the King was tired 
of it and said to him: 

“You can spare yourself the trouble, for we can 
send you after your brothers, first, as well as last. 

But Boots pleaded to try, and so finally they 
let him. He took the ax out of his wallet. 

“Hew away now!” he said, and the ax hewed 
so that the chips flew to all sides, and it was not long 
before the big oak came down with a crash. 

When that was done, Boots took out the spade 
and fitted the handle to it, and said: 

“Dig away now!” and the spade began to dig 
and delve so that the earth and rock flew away in 
splinters, and you may well believe that at last the 
well was there. 

When it was as deep and as big as he wanted it, 
he took out the walnut, put it down in the corner, 
and pulled out the moss. 

“Trickle away now! ” said Boots, and the water 
trickled and ran out of the hole until the well was 
full to the brim. 

And so, as Boots had felled the oak that dark¬ 
ened the King’s castle, and dug a well that would 
hold water all the year around, he got the Princess 
and half the kingdom, as the King had promised. 






■ 


ee&AN 


■NO 


D e lvc 


ill! 


/ ■ 

S • §R 




mf&m 


— 


c / 




/ 

.' JmIIIR * Hfflftw 


M 



37 


























































38 


The Three Brothers 


And it was well for Peter and Paul that they 
were away on the island, else they would have heard 
every day and every hour of the day, all the people 
say: 

“Well Boots certainly did not wonder about 
things for nothing.” 







O NE fine day the bear met the fox who came 
sneaking along with a bunch of fish he had 
stolen. 

“Where did you get all those?” asked the bear. 
“Oh! I was just out fishing and caught these 
myself, Mr. Bear,” answered the fox. 

Then the bear wanted to do some fishing him¬ 
self and asked the fox if he would be good enough 
to teach him how. 

“Oh! that is a very simple thing to do,” an¬ 
swered the fox, “and it is very easily learned. All 
you have to do is to go out on the ice, dig a hole, 
and stick your tail down in it and keep it there as 
long as you can. You must not mind if it smarts 
a little for that is when the fish are biting. The 


39 


40_ Why the Bear is Stumpy-Tailed 



“Oh! That is a very simple thing to do” answered the Fox 

longer you can hold out, the more you will catch. 
Then all at once pull it out with a sideways pull; 
and a good strong pull at that, mind you!” 

So the bear did as he was told and held his tail 
for a very long time in the hole, until it was all 
frozen. Then he gave a strong pull and the tail 
snapped and broke off short. 

And that, you see, is the reason why the bear 
walks around to this very day with a short, stumpy 
tail. 






SECOND 


SMALLEST 


BIGGEST 


NCE there were three billy goats, who used to 



V7 go way up on the hillside to try to make them¬ 
selves fat, and the name of the whole goat family 
was Gruff. On the way up the hill there was a 
bridge over a river they had to cross, and under the 
bridge lived a troll—a big ugly one, with eyes as big 
as saucers and a nose as long as a poker. 

The youngest billy goat was the first to cross 
the bridge. 

“Trip trap, trip trap,” sang the bridge. 

“Who’s that tripping on my bridge?” howled 
the troll. 

“Oh, it is only the smallest billy goat Gruff, 
and I am going up on the hillside to make myself 
fat,” said the billy goat in a very small voice. 


41 




42 


The Three Billy Goats Gruff 


“Well, I am coming to take you and gobble you 
up!” said the troll. 

“Oh, no! please do not take me. I am such a 
little one. Wait until the second billy goat comes 
for he is much bigger than I,” said the little goat. 

“Well, be gone then,” said the troll. 

After a while the second billy goat came and 
started to cross the bridge. 

“Trip trap, trip trap,” sang the bridge. 

“Who’s that tripping on my bridge?” screamed 
the troll. 

“Oh, it is only the second billy goat Gruff, and 
I am going up the hillside to make myself fat,” said 
the billy goat. But his voice was not so small and 
fine. 

“Well, here I come to gobble you up,” said the 

troll. 

“Oh, no! please do not take me. Wait just a 
bit and then the big billy goat will come up and he 
is so much bigger than I.” 

“Well, get away with you then,” said the troll. 

And then all at once came the big billy goat 
Gruff. 

“Trip trap, trip trap,” sang the bridge, and 
groaned and creaked under the weight of him. 





The Three Billy Goats Gruff .43 

“Who is tramping on my bridge?” roared the 

troll. 

“It is I, the big billy goat Gruff,” said the big 
billy goat, in a deep coarse voice. 

“Now here I am coming to gobble you up,” 
screamed the troll. 

But the big billy goat called out: “Come on! 
I have a big strong spear to pierce your eyes, if you 
come near, and I have two big stones, so big and 
stout, that they will crush your bones and lay you 
out.” 

And then he dashed at the troll with his two 
strong horns, crushed his bones, and flung him out 
into the river. Then he went up on the hillside, 
and up there all three goats grew so fat that they 
could hardly walk home again, and if they have 
not lost any of it then they are still fat, and so, 
Snip, snap, snout, 

This folk tale is out. 







rne lad 
who 

OOL6D Ttf€ 
TR.OLL AN 
TH6 

cess 


THE TROLL 


BOOTS 


L ONG, long ago there lived a man who had three 
sons. When he died, the two eldest wanted to 
go out into the world and try their fortunes, but 
they did not care to have the youngest go with 
them. 

“You do not know anything and you are of 
no use,” they told him. 

“Well, then, I shall have to go along,” said the 
poor lad, “for I shall never get on by myself.” 

The two older brothers started out and went to 
the King’s palace where they found work, one with 
the Master of the Horse, and the other with the 
gardener. 

The youngest boy, whose name was Aslak, but 
whom they had always called “Boots,” also left 


44 




The LadWho Fooled TheT roll and Won The Princess 45 


home, taking with him an old kneading trough (a 
big wooden trough, in which the dough is knead¬ 
ed) . This was the only thing left him by his par¬ 
ents, and though it was big and heavy, he did not 
want to leave it behind. 

Soon he, too, came to the King’s palace and 
was given work in the kitchen, carrying water and 
wood. He made himself so useful and was so good 
to everyone, that they all liked him at once. 

Whereas, the other two were lazy and did their 
work so poorly, that they were paid but small wages 
and they soon became jealous of their brother 
because everyone liked him so well. 

Now just opposite the palace on the other side 
of a big lake, there lived a troll, who owned silver 
ducks, which the King from his window could see 
swimming around the lake and had often wished 
that he could get them. 

Then one day the brothers said to the Master 
of the Horse: “If our brother only would, he could 
easily get the silver ducks for the King, so he 
says.” 

You may well believe that the Master of the 
Horse lost no time in telling this to the King. Boots 
was called before him and told what his brothers 
had said. 






46 The Lad Who Fooled The Troll and Won The Princess 


“Why, I never even dreamed such a thing,” 
said the lad, but the King would not believe him. 

“You have said it, and now you must do it,” 
the King told him. 

“Well,” said Boots, “if I must, I must. But 
give me some rye and some wheat, and I will try.” 

After getting these things, he put them in his 
kneading trough and rowed across. He walked 
along the beach on the other side, scattering the 
grain, and at last he lured the ducks out in the 
trough. Then he rowed back as fast as he could. 
When he was half way across, the troll came run¬ 
ning out and saw him. 

“You have taken my seven silver ducks,” he 
screamed. 

“Yes,” answered the lad. 

“Are you coming back again?” asked the troll. 

“Maybe I will,” said the lad, and rowed still 
faster. 

When the lad brought back seven silver ducks 
the King was very much pleased and praised him 
for it, but the brothers grew more angry and more 
jealous day by day. 

At last they came again to the Master of the 
Horse and told him that their brother could easily 




The Lad Wlio^ooledTlieTroll and WonThePrincess^ 47 

get the troll’s quilt for the King, if he had a mind 
to do so, to hear him tell it. 

Now the troll’s quilt was a very wonderful one 
indeed, with a pane of gold and a pane of silver, and 
a pane of gold and a pane of silver, and the King 
longed to have it. 

So again the Master of the Horse went to the 
King, who sent for Boots at once, and told him to 
get the quilt or lose his life. It was no use for the 
lad to say that he had never thought of such a thing, 
for the King would not believe him, and only 
wanted the silver and gold quilt. 

Boots saw that there was no use trying to make 
the King believe him, so down he went to the lake 
and rowed across. On the other side he hid him¬ 
self and waited to see what would happen. At last 
one of the trolls came out of the hill with the quilt 
and hung it on the line for a good airing, and you 
may well believe that Boots was not slow in snatch¬ 
ing it. Then back he ran to the lake and rowed 
across as fast as he could. 

When he was half way across the troll came out 
and saw him. “Was it you who stole my silver 
ducks?” he cried. 

“Y-es,” answered the lad. 






48 





























49 

























50 The Lad Who Fooled TheTroll and Won The Princess 


“And have you now taken the quilt with the 
pane of silver and the pane of gold?” 

“Y-es,” said the lad. 

“Will you be coming back again?” called the 

troll. 

“Maybe so,” said the lad. 

When he brought the wonderful quilt back, the 
King was very much pleased, praised him highly, 
and wanted to make him his special servant. At 
this the brothers were more angry than ever and 
told the Master of the Horse that it would be a very 
simple matter for their brother to get the troll’s 
golden harp for the King. This was such a won¬ 
derful harp that all who heard it felt happy, no 
matter how sad they were. 

Of course the Master of the Horse told the 
King, who said to the lad: “If you have said it, you 
must do it. If you bring me the golden harp, you 
shall have the princess in marriage, and half the 
kingdom. If not—you must lose your life.” 

“I never said such a thing,” answered the lad, 
“but as there is no other way out of it, I shall have 
to try.” 

He took a nail, a twig of a beech tree, and a 
piece of a candle and put them in his pocket. Then 
he rowed across the lake to the troll’s hill. 





The Lad Who Fooled TheTroll and WonThe Princess 51 


As he pushed ashore the troll came out and 
saw him. 

“Was it you who took those seven silver ducks 
of mine?” he asked. 

“Y-es,” answered the lad. 

“And was it not also you who took my quilt 
with the pane of silver and the pane of gold?” 

“Y-es,” answered Boots. 

Whereupon the troll seized him, took him 
inside the hill, and led him to where sat the troll’s 
ugly daughter. 

“Look here daughter-mine,” he said, “at last I 
have hold of the one who took my seven silver 
ducks, and my quilt with the pane of silver and the 
pane of gold. Now you must shut him up and fat¬ 
ten him, so that we can kill him and make a feast of 
him.” The daughter did as she was told and for a 
week Boots had the best things to eat and the best 
things to drink—and plenty of them, too. 

When the week w r as up, the troll told his 
daughter to go to the pen and cut into Boot’s little 
•finger to see if he had grown fat. She went down 
and asked Boots for his little finger, but he put out 
the nail instead, which she tried to cut, being short¬ 
sighted, and believing it to be his finger. 





52 The Lad Who Fooled The Troll and WonThe Princess 


“He is as hard as iron,” she told the troll, “and 
we cannot eat him yet.”- 

A week later she tried again, and this time 
Boots put out the twig. 

“He is a little fatter, now,” she said, “but he 
will still be hard to chew.” 

Another week passed and the troll said that 
surely the lad must be fat by then. And so the 
daughter went down again and asked Boots for his 
little finger. But he put out the candle in place of 
his finger. 

“Well, he can pass now,” said the daughter. 

“Then I shall start out and invite people for 
the feast,” said the troll, “and in the meantime you 
must kill him and cook him nicely for the com¬ 
pany.” So the daughter began to sharpen a long 
knife. 

“Is that the knife you are going to use on me?” 
asked Boots. 

“So it is,” answered the troll’s daughter. 

“But it is not sharp enough,” he said. “Let 
me sharpen it for you, so that it will not hurt so 
much.” 

She let him sharpen it for her and soon he said 
that he thought it would do very well. “But let me 
try it on your braids first,” he added. 





The Lad Who Fooled The Troll and Won The Princess 53 



He put out the candle in place of his finger 


She stretched her head forward, holding out 
her braids, but Boots swung the knife and cut off 
her head. Then he put on her clothes and sat down 
in a dark corner of the room. Soon the troll came 
with his guests and told his daughter (for he 
thought it was she who sat there) to come and have 
something to eat. 

“No,” answered the lad, “I do not care for any¬ 
thing. I am sad.” 

“Well you know how to help that,” said the 
troll. “Just take the golden harp and play on it.” 

“Where is the harp, then?” asked the lad. 
















54 The Lad Who Fooled TheTroll and Won The Princess 


“You ought to know, for you played it last and 
put it behind the door,” the troll answered. 

Boots did not need to be told twice. He took 
the harp and went in and out of the hall playing on 
it. When he saw his chance, he hurried out of the 
hill, ran down to the beach, and pushed out in his 
trough. He rowed until water flew in spray all 
over him. 

Presently the troll thought it strange that his 
daughter did not come back, and he went out to see 
what the matter could be. And then he saw the 
lad way out on the lake. 

“Was it you who took my seven silver ducks?” 
he asked. 

“Yes,” answered Boots. 

“And was it you who took my quilt with the 
pane of silver and the pane of gold?” 

“Yes,” said Boots again. 

“Have you now taken my golden harp?” 
screamed the troll. 

“So it seems,” answered Boots. 

“But I thought I had eaten you all up,” howled 
the troll. 

“No,” answered Boots, “that was your daugh¬ 
ter you just ate.” 





The Lad Who Fooled The Troll and Won The Princess 55 

At this the troll became so furious that he flew 
into pieces, and then Boots rowed back and 
gathered up as much gold and silver as his trough 
could carry, and took them all back to the King. 

The King was so happy to get the harp, that 
he kept his promise, and gave his daughter in mar¬ 
riage to Boots, and half of his Kingdom besides. 
And Boots was kind to his brothers, for he was sure 
that they had meant it all for the best. 







WHY 
THE SGA 
IS 

SALT 


M ANY years ago, at Christmas time, two 
brothers—one rich and the other poor— 
started out to celebrate. Now the poor brother did 
not have even a crumb in his house, so he went to 
his rich brother and asked for a little food to keep 
Christmas with. 

Now it was the first time he had gone there for 
help, and as his rich brother was very stingy, the 
poor man was not at all glad to ask him for some¬ 
thing, but he had no other person to call on. 

“I will give you a whole side of bacon, two 
loaves of bread, and some candles besides,” said the 
rich man, “if you will promise never to bother me 
again. But do not forget that you are never to put 
foot in my house another time.” 


56 








Why the Sea Is Salt 


57 



They have a wonderful mill 


The poor brother was glad to get the food, so 
he gave him the promise, thanked him for his help, 
and started on his way home. 

When he had gone but a little way, he met an 
old man with a long white beard, who looked so 
thin and hungry that he was sad to see him. 

“Good evening to you,” said the old man, 
“could you not give a poor fellow something to 
eat?” 

“Well,” said the poor brother, “I have just 
been begging myself, but I am not so hungry that I 
will not share with you on Christmas eve.” And he 
gave him a candle, a loaf of bread, and was just 
about to cut him a slice of bacon, when the old man 
said: 

“That is enough, and I thank you very much 
for it. Now you have been very kind to me and I 
will tell you something. Not far from here live 







58 _ Why the Sea Is Salt 



They gave him the mill for the bacon 


some underground folk and they have a mill that 
can grind out anything you wish, except bacon. So 
they will want to buy yours, if you go there, but do 
not sell it unless they give you in return the mill 
that stands behind the door. When you come back 
again, I will show you how to handle the mill.” 

So the poor brother took the old man’s advice, 
found the entrance in the hill side and went in. AH 
the hill-folk swarmed around him and began to bid 
for the bacon. But the man said: 

“My wife and I were going to have that bacon 
for our Christmas supper, but if you want it so 





Why the Sea Is Salt 59 



The clock struck twelve 


badly, I will sell it to you for the mill that stands 
back of the door.” 

At first they would not hear of it, but the man 
remained firm, so at last they gave him the mill for 
the bacon. 

When he came out of the hill he met the poor 
old man, who showed him out to handle the mill. 
After he had learned this he thanked the old man, 
and started off home again as fast as he could go, 





60 


Why the Sea Is Salt 


but still the clock had struck twelve on Christinas 
night, before he got there. 

“Where in the world have you been,” asked his 
wife. “Here I have been waiting hour after hour, 
watching for you, without so much as two sticks to 
lay under my Christmas porridge.” 

“Well,” said he, “I could not get here any 
sooner, for I had a long way to go and several things 
to do, but come here now, and I will show you 
something!” 

He put the mill on the table and bade it first 
grind out some candles and a table cloth, then meat, 
and everything for a Christmas supper. All he had 
to do was to speak the word, and the mill would 
grind it out at once. The wife stood by blessing 
her lucky star, and wanted to know where he got 
such a wonderful thing. 

But he would not tell her anything about it 
and only kept the mill busy grinding out meat and 
drink and many other good things for the holidays. 
On the third day he invited all his friends and rela¬ 
tives to come to the house for a great feast. 

When the rich brother, who was among the 
company, saw the table laid with all manner of 
fine things, he could not understand it and grew 






61 





























































































62 _ Why the Sea Is Salt 

very angry, for he could not bear the thought that 
his brother should have so much. 

“Why it was only Christmas Eve,” he said to 
all the company, “that my brother came to me and 
begged a bit of food, and now he is giving a feast 
as though he were a King. Where, in the world, 
did you get all this?” he asked his brother. 

“From behind the door,” the man replied, nor 
would he say another word about it. But as the 
evening wore on and all grew merrier, he could not 
keep his secret any longer, and so he brought out 
the mill and had it grind out all sorts of things. 

“Now you can see where I got it all,” he said. 

Of course the rich brother wanted the mill 
right away, and after a good deal of talk back and 
forth, it was decided that he should get it at harvest 
time, for three hundred dollars. And you may be 
sure that the mill did not have a chance to grow 
rusty in the meantime. The poor brother let it 
grind out meat, and drink, and many other good 
things that would last him for years. 

At harvest time, the rich brother came to get 
the mill, but he was in such a hurry to take it home 
that he did not learn how to handle it. He reached 
home in the evening, and the next morning he told 
his wife to go out in the field and toss the hay while 





Why the Sea Is Salt 


63 


the men cut the grass, and he would stay at home 
and mind the house and get the dinner ready. 

Then when he was alone in the house, he put 
the mill on the kitchen table and said: 

“Grind herrings and broth, grind herrings 
and broth, and grind them fast and well.” 

And so the mill began to grind herrings and 
broth, "first all the dishes full, then all the tubs full, 
and so on until it spilled out over the kitchen floor. 
The man twisted, and shook the mill to make it 
stop, but it was no use, for it kept right on grind¬ 
ing. Soon the broth rose so high that the man was 
nearly drowned. He threw open the door into the 
parlor, but it was not long before that, too, was 
filled. So fie had to throw open the front door, 
and it was about all he could do to lift the latch, 
too. He ran out and after him came a torrent of 
broth with herrings splashing around in it and the 
stream spread all over his fields. 

Now his old wife, who was out in the meadows 
haying, thought that it surely must be time for 
dinner, and so she said: 

“I think that we had better be going home. 
Even though the dinner bell has not called us yet, 
it must be time for it. Maybe my old man can not 
cook the meal and needs my help.” 







64 


Why the Sea Is Salt 


They were all hungry and willing to stop 
work, and they followed her home readily enough. 
But they had not gone far before they met the 
stream of broth and herrings, with the old man 
splashing about in it and trying to get away 
from it. 

“Eat and drink! Eat and drink all you can, 
but be careful and do not get drowned,” he cried, 
and he dashed off to his brother’s house, begging 
him to come and stop the mill. “If you do not 
take it back right away,” he said, “the whole vil¬ 
lage will be drowned in broth and herrings.” 

So the poor brother made the mill stop and 
took it back with him. Soon he built himself a 
new farm house, much finer than the one his 
brother had. He had the mill grind out so much 
gold that he could cover the walls with plates of 
it. As the house was near the sea it glistened and 
gleamed far away over the water, and soon the 
man was known far and wide, and all who sailed 
by wanted to see the rich man in the golden house, 
with the wonderful mill. 

One day an old sea captain came to see it and 
asked the man if it could grind salt, also. 

“Certainly it can,” answered the man. “It 
can grind anything you wish.” 








iiiii 






. ' 

V 


T^ey; Mer^THeiSTRe amiof grot* i 


loiei 

Moore 















































































































66 _ Why the Sea Is Salt 



He was a good way out from land 


When the skipper heard this he wanted it, no 
matter how much it would cost, for with the mill 
once in his possession, he would be able to get 
everything he wanted without long voyages across 
the seas. He could simply sit at home with his 
wife, and his glass, and have an easy time of it. 
At first the man would not hear of it, but the 
skipper begged so hard and offered him so much 
money, that finally he let him take it. 

But the old captain was in such a hurry to get 












Why the Sea Is Salt 


67 


away with the mill that he did not find out how 
to handle it. He embarked on the ship and set 
all sails. When he was a good way out from land 
he had the mill brought on deck, and said: 

“Grind salt, grind salt, and grind it fast and 
well.” 

So the mill ground out the salt so fast that the 
ship was full in no time, and still it kept on, and 
the heaps grew larger and larger, and heavier and 
heavier, until at last the ship went down. 

And there the mill lies at the bottom of the 
sea, grinding away to this very day, and that is the 
reason, you see, that the sea is salt. 











In the middle of this meadow was a barn 
(The Princess on the Glass Hill) 


68 









Part I—The Three Horses 

F AR, far away, and high up among the hills, 
there was a little meadow and in the middle 
of this meadow there was a barn. The man who 
owned it had built it there to store his hay, but (he 
had not had much of it to store away) for the last 
few years. 

For I must tell you that every St. John’s night, 
when the grass stood thickest and greenest, it was 
eaten down to the very ground as if a whole herd 
had been feeding there all night. After this had 
happened twice, the man lost his patience and said 
69 




70 


The Princess on the Glass Hill 


to his sons—of whom there were three, the young¬ 
est being Boots, of course—that one of them would 
have to go and sleep in the barn next St. John’s 
night. For it certainly wasn’t any joke to have all 
the grass eaten up, year after year. 

So it was decided that the eldest son was to 
go and he promised to keep a sharp lookout and 
to find out who caused the trouble. Off he started 
for the barn and laid down to sleep. 

In the middle of the night he was awakened 
by a terrible noise. The windows clattered, and 
the walls rattled and shook until the lad got so 
excited that he jumped up and ran as fast as his 
legs could carry him, not even daring to look back. 

Next morning the grass was all eaten up, just 
as it had been at the same time the other years. 
The man was more out of patience than ever and' 
when St. John’s night came around again, he sent 
his second son to watch in the barn, and begged 
him to watch well and carefully. But the same 
things happened as before, and when the walls 
began to shake and the earth began to rock and 
rumble, the lad was so frightened that he took to 
his heels. And so the grass was all eaten up again. 

The year after that it was Boot’s turn to go, 





The Princess on the Glass Hill 


71 


but the others laughed and made fun of him, say¬ 
ing that if they had not been able to do it, he surely 
could not either, for he had never done anything 
in his life anyway. However, this did not disturb 
Boots, who went straight up to the meadow and 
inside the barn. 

After a while the walls began to shake and 
the earth rocked beneath him, but Boots only said, 

“If it gets no worse than this, I can surely 
stand it.” 

Then a little while later another terrible earth- 
shock came. This time the straw and litter in the 
barn flew around him, but Boots only said again, 

“If it gets no worse than this, I can surely 
stand it.” 

Just then a third shock came and Boots ex¬ 
pected the roof and walls to come tumbling down 
on his head, but he stayed, and soon it grew still as 
death all around him. 

“I wonder if it will begin again,” thought the 
lad, and he waited anxiously. 

But no, everything was quiet, until presently 
he heard a noise as if a horse were standing just 
outside the door, chewing grass. He tip-toed to 
the door and peeped out and, sure enough, there 





72 


The Princess on the Glass Hill 


was really a horse standing there, chewing the 
grass. Such a horse it was—big and fat and shiny, 
and on the ground lay a saddle and bridle and a 
whole set of armor for a knight, all of the finest 
copper. 

“Oh ho! So it is you who have been eating 
our grass,” thought Boots. “We will soon put a 
stop to that,” and he took the steel out of his 
tinder box and threw it over the horse. The 
creature had then no power to move and was so 
tame that Boots could do what he liked with him. 

So, he mounted to the horse’s back and rode 
off to some place that no one knew of and put him 
there and kept him there. 

When he got back home, his brothers laughed 
at him and said: 

“We will wager that you did not stay long at 
the barn, if you went there at all.” 

“I stayed there until sunrise,” answered Boots, 
“and nothing happened at all. I wonder what you 
were so frightened about.” 

“Well, we had better go and see how well you 
looked after the grass,” they said, and they were 
much surprised to find it as thick and as long as 
before. 






The Princess on the Glass Hill 


73 


On next St. John’s night the same thing hap¬ 
pened. Neither of the brothers dared to go and 
sleep in the barn, but Boots was not afraid, and 
everything happened as before. Three times the 
earth rocked and shook beneath him and there was 
a terrible clatter, only it seemed as though the 
earth-quakes and noises were worse than before. 

Then all at once it was still, and Boots could 
hear the horse chewing outside. He opened the 
door and peeped out, and what do you suppose he 
saw? There was another horse, still bigger and 
fatter than the one of the year before, and on its 
back lay a saddle, bridle, and a suit of armor for a 
knight, all of shining silver, and as fine as anyone 
could wish. 

“O ho,” he thought, “so it is you who have 
been eating our grass.” 

Again Boots took the steel out of his tinder 
box and threw it over the horse, who stood as still 
and as quiet as a lamb after that. So Boots 
mounted the horse and rode him to the hiding place 
where he kept the other, and then he went home. 

“I wonder if you will tell us that the grass 
looks fine up in the meadow this morning?” said 
the brothers, teasingly. 





74 The Princess on the Glass Hill 


“Of course it does,” said Boots. “Why should 
it be otherwise?” 

And no one could have been more surprised 
than the brothers when they went there and saw 
that the grass was as thick and fine as ever, but 
they did not give him one word of praise for it. 

The third St. John’s night came around and 
neither of the two brothers could muster up cour¬ 
age enough to go to the barn and watch, but Boots 
was not in the least afraid. Everything happened 
just as it had happened twice before. The earth¬ 
quakes came, each one worse than the one before, 
the last one being so violent that he was thrown 
from one wall to the other. Then all grew as still 
as death, just as before. 

After a while Boots heard the horse chewing 
and went to the door and peeped out, and there 
stood a horse that was far larger and more beau¬ 
tiful than the other two, and this one had a saddle, 
bridle, and a suit of armor, all of the purest gold. 

“Oh ho!” he thought, “so it is you who have 
been eating up our grass.” He threw the steel from 
the tinder over the horse’s back, and it immediately 
became quiet and tractable. Then Boots got upon 
its back and rode away to the place where he kept 
the other two, left it, and hurried back home. 





The Princess in the Glass Hill 75 

His brothers laughed and said that they could 
see that he had watched the grass well, for he 
looked as though he were still asleep, but when 
they went up to the meadow to see for themselves, 
they were both surprised and angry to find the 
grass as thick and as deep as ever. 









The Golden Apples 


THE PRINCESS IN THE GLASS HILL 
Part II—The Glass Hill 

Now I must tell you that the King of that 
country where Boots lived had a very beautiful 
daughter whom he would only give in marriage to 
the man who could ride up the glass hill—for there 
was such a hill—and it was as steep and as slippery 
as ice, and very close to the King’s palace it was. 

Far up on top the Princess was to sit, with 
three golden apples in her lap, and he who could 
ride up and take them, would have her and half 
the kingdom besides. This news the King caused 
to be given out from all the Churches of the land, 
76 


The Princess in the Glass Hill 


77 


and in many other Kingdoms besides, and as the 
Princess was really so dazzlingly beautiful that all 
who looked upon her immediately fell in love with 
her. You can well imagine that princes and knights 
came from far and near to try for her hand. And 
each and all of them thought that he would surely 
win the Princess. 

Finally came the day that the King had set 
aside for the great trial, and there was such a crowd 
that one could hardly move. It seemed that every¬ 
one in the land who could come was crowding 
around the glass hill, for they were all anxious to 
see who it would be that would win. And how 
splendid and brave the knights and princes looked 
as they rode proudly to and fro on their prancing 
steeds, all dressed in glittering armor. 

Boots’ two brothers started off with the rest, 
but they would not let him come with them, as 
he had no nice clothes to wear, and they were 
ashamed of him. 

“Very well,” said Boots, “I can go by myself.” 

When the two brothers came to the hill, the 
princes and knights were all hard at it. They rode 
their horses until they were all in foam, but it was 
of no use, for as soon as they set foot on the glass 





78 _ The Princess on the Glass Hill 

hill, they slipped back and down, and not one of 
them could get up even a yard or two. And small 
wonder it was, for the hill was so smooth that a fly 
could not walk on it, and just as steep as a wall. 
But all were so anxious to win the princess that 
they kept on trying. They rode and slipped, and 
rode and slipped, until at last the horses were so 
tired that they could move no more and so they 
had to give it up. 

Just as the King was about to announce a 
new trial for the next day, a new knight came gal¬ 
loping up, and he was mounted on a horse such 
as had never before been seen. The knight him¬ 
self was clad in a suit of copper armor that glis¬ 
tened and shone in the sun, and his saddle and 
bridle were likewise of copper. 

They called to him that he might as well save 
himself the trouble of trying to ride up the hill, for 
no one could get up its slippery sides. But the 
knight paid no attention to them and set his horse 
at the hill and rode away. And right up the slip¬ 
pery side he went until he was a third of the way 
up, then he turned about and came down again. 
But the princess on top thought that she had never 
seen so fine a knight, and wished that he would 





The Princess in the Glass Hill 


79 


come all the way. So when she saw him turning 
back, she threw one of her golden apples after him, 
and it rolled down and fell into one of his shoe- 
tops. 

When the knight came to the bottom of the 
hill, he put his steed to a gallop and rode away so 
fast that no one knew what had become of him. 
That same evening all the princes and knights 
were ordered to go before the King in order that 
he might see if any of them had the apple. 

The brothers came back and told Boots all 
about the wonderful knight who could ride as no 
one else could. Boots said that he should have 
liked to have seen him, but they only laughed at 
him and said: 

“Oh, that is too fine company for you.” 

The next morning the princes and knights 
went at it again, and you may be sure that they 
had taken great pains to shoe their horses well, but 
it did them no good. It was all just as the day 
before. They rode and they slipped, they rode and 
they slipped, and rode again, until their horses all 
were tired out and they had to stop. 

Just as the King was about to proclaim the 
last trial for the next day and give them all one 






80 


The Princess on the Glass Hill 


more chance, for it did not seem that the knight 
in the copper mail would come again, they heard 
a great clattering up the street. It was the strange 
knight, but this time he rode a larger and more 
beautiful horse, and his armor and saddle were of 
shining silver. They all called to him that it would 
be no use for him to try to ride up the hill, since 
all the rest had failed, but he paid them no heed. 

He dashed straight at the hill and when he 
had gone two-thirds up, he wheeled around and 
rode down again. But the princess liked him even 
more than before, and wanted him to come the rest 
of the way, oh, so badly, so she rolled the second 
apple down to him, and it rolled straight into one 
of his shoe-tops, just as he was turning around. 

But as soon as the knight came to the bottom 
of the hill, he spurred his horse and was off in a 
flash. Again that evening the King ordered all to 
appear before him, in the hope that he would find 
the one with the two golden apples. Alas! none 
of them had even one. 

The third day went as the other two before. 
The princes and knights all rode at the hill harder 
than ever, but it did them not the slightest good. 
Then everyone looked around eagerly for the 


















82 _ The Princess in the Glass Hill 

strange knight, and at last they saw him riding 
up on the finest horse one could imagine, and he 
himself was dressed in the purest gold with saddle 
and bridle of gold. He sparkled and shone so in 
the bright sunlight that he dazzled the eye, and 
they were all taken back at so much splendor. So 
dazzled they were that this time no one called to 
him not to try. 

He turned his horse at the hill and rode 
straight up as light as a feather. When he reached 
the top, he stooped from the saddle, picked up the 
third golden apple which the princess held in her 
lap, and rode down again. At the foot of the glass 
hill, he wheeled about and rode off so fast that no 
one could say a word to him. 

Again that evening the King called all the 
princes and knights before him to see if any of 
them had the golden apple, but no one had. 

“Someope must have them,” said the King, 
“for I certainly saw the strange knight pick them 
up.” So he ordered every one in the whole land to 
appear before him, and at last Boots’ two brothers 
were called in. As they were the last to come, the 
King asked them if they knew of anyone who was 
not there. 





The Princess in the Glass HUl _83 

“Well, we have a brother,” they said “who is 
not here, but it surely cannot be he who has the 
golden apples.” 

“All the same,” said the King, “I want to see 
him, so bring him to me forthwith.” 

So Boots had to go to the palace in all his 
shabby clothes, and the King asked him if he had 
any of his golden apples. 

“Yes, sir,” answered Boots, “Here is the first 
one, here is the second one, and here is the third 
one.” So saying, he pulled them out of his pocket 
and threw off his rags, and lo! he stood forth all 
clad in the shining gold armor. 

“Then you are the man to have the princess,” 
the King said. 

And so Boots won the lovely princess, and 
there was a great wedding feast and they lived hap¬ 
pily ever after. 






ONC’^5 OWN 
CHILOR6N 
arc 

~"PR&TT4eST 


/^VNCE on a time a hunter went into the woods 
to hunt and there he met a snipe. 

“Oh, lease, dear friend,” said the snipe, “do 
not shoot my children.” 

“But how will I know which ones are your 
children?” asked the hunter. 

“That is easy,” said the snipe, “for mine are 
the prettiest of them all.” 

“Very well,” said the hunter, “I promise not 
to shoot them.” 

But when he came back he had in his hands 
a great bunch of snipes that he had shot. 

“Oh! oh!” cried the snipe, “Why did you kill 
my children, after all?” 


84 














One’s Own Children Are Always the Prettiest 85 

“Were those your children?” asked the hunter. 
"I merely shot the ugliest ones that I could find, 
really I did.” 

“Oh me! Oh my!” wailed the poor snipe, “do 
you not know that each and every one thinks his 
children are the prettiest in the whole world?” 







There was a small door in a birch tree 
(The Seven Colts) 


86 









TH6 
SGvetst 
C OLTS 


F AR out in the dark woods there lived an old 
couple who were very poor. They had three 
sons, the youngest of whom was called Boots. He 
had always been lazy and never seemed to want to 
do anything. 

One day the oldest of the three sons said that 
he wanted to go out in the world and make some¬ 
thing of himself and his parents gave him their 
blessing and let him go. He walked all day and 
towards evening he came to the King’s palace and 
who should be standing on the steps but the King 
himself. 

“Where are you going?” asked the King. 


87 


88 


The Seven Colts 


“Oh, I am just looking around for work to do.” 
answered the lad. 

“Then perhaps you would like to stay right 
here and look after my seven colts?” went on the 
King. “If you can watch them closely for one 
whole day and tell me what they eat and drink, I 
will give you the Princess in marriage and half the 
Kingdom besides; but if you fail, you will be given 
a whipping and sent home.” 

The lad thought that would be very easy work 
and told the King that he would stay and try. So 
early next morning the colts were let out of the 
stables and off they dashed at a mad gallop with 
the boy after them. 

Over hill and dale they went until the lad 
thought never in his life had he run or jumped like 
that. Soon he began to grow tired and his breath 
came in gasps. Still he kept on until he came to a 
hillside where an old woman was sitting at her 
spinning wheel. As soon as she saw him she called 
to him: 

“Come here, you poor boy and rest a bit. You 
can not keep up with those colts.” 

And the lad was only too glad to do so for he 
was very tired. So he laid down on the grass and 





The Seven Colts 


89 


rested for a long time. When he got up again he 
said that it would be no use going back to the palace 
without the colts, and that he might as well go back 
to his mother and father. 

“Just wait until it is dark,” said the old woman, 
“and then the colts will be coming this way again 
and you can run back with them. No one will 
know that you have not looked after them all 
day.” 

Then she gave the lad a crock with water and 
some bulrushes and told him to show them to the 
King and to tell him that this was what his seven 
colts ate and drank. 

“Well,” said the King when the lad returned 
in the evening, “Have you done your work well and 
faithfully?” 

“Indeed I have,” answered the lad. 

“Tell me then,” continued the King, “what 
they ate and drank.” 

“Well here is the food and here is the drink,” 
said the lad showing him the bulrushes and the 
water. 

Then the King grew very angry for he under¬ 
stood how the lad had looked after the colts, and he 
ordered him out of the palace, but first he had him 
given a whipping. 




90 


The Seven Colts 


So the lad went straight home, and you may 
well imagine that he vowed that he was never going 
out into the world again. 

But the second brother wanted to try his luck, 
and though his parents begged him to stay at home, 
he kept on pleading so hard that at last they 
gave in and let him go. He too came to the King’s 
palace, and as before the King was standing on the 
steps and asked whither he was going. 

When the lad answered that he was going to 
find some work the King told him about his seven 
colts and offered him the same reward if he would 
look after them for a whole day and find out what 
they ate and drank. 

So, in the morning, the seven colts were let out 
and off they flew over hill and dale, with the poor 
lad struggling on behind them. But he like his 
brother soon grew tired and hot and when he came 
to the old woman with her spinning wheel, she 
called to him: 

“Come here, my boy, and rest yourself a bit.” 

So he gave up his task and laid down to rest 
in the cool green grass. When the colts came back 
in the evening, the old woman gave him the crock 
full of water and the bulrushes, and told him to 




The Seven Colts 91 

tell the King that these were what the colts ate 
and drank. 

After he came back to the palace, the King 
asked him if he had found out what his colts ate and 
drank. Then the lad showed him the water and bul¬ 
rushes that the old woman had given him and 
upon seeing these the King became so angry that 
he had a more severe whipping given to the lad than 
that his brother had received. 

So the second son came limping back, sore all 
over, and vowed that he would never leave home 
again. Now it was Boots turn to go. They all 
laughed at him and said that if they had such bad 
luck, he was sure to fare even worse, for he had 
never done anything in his life anyway. But Boots 
had his mind all made up to go and in spite of all 
their teasing, or the pleadings of his parents, he 
started off. 

When he reached the palace, the King was 
standing on the steps again. So Boots went up to 
him and said he would like some work. But the 
King wanted to know where he was from and when 
Boots told him that he was a brother of the other 
two who had tried to look after the colts, the King 
did not want to have anything to do with him. 





92 


The Seven Colts 


“Still, as long as I am here, you may as well try 
me,” said Boots. 

“All right,” the King said at length, “you may 
try, but mark my words, it will go hard with you if 
you fail.” 

In the morning the colts were let out and they 
started out at a mad gallop, but Boots kept up with 
them, dashing wildly over hill and dale. When he 
came to the old woman she called out to him: 

“Come here, my poor lad, and rest yourself a 

bit.” 

But Boots paid her not the slighest attention and 
kept on running as fast as he could, and all at once 
one of the colts said to him: 

“Sit up on my back now, for we still have a 
long way to go,” and Boots did not have to be told 
twice, but did as the colt said. 

On and on they went, flying over hill and dale, 
so fast that the wind whistled in their ears. 

“Do you see anything?” asked the colt. 

“No!” said Boots, and away they went again. 

“Do you see anything now?” asked the colt 
after they had gone on a bit. 

“No!” said Boots again. 





The Seven Colts _ 93 

So they went on again for a bit and at last the 
colt asked Boots if he coud see anything yet. 

“Yes!” answered Boots, “It seems to me that I 
see something white in the distance. It looks like 
the trunk of a tree. 

“Well, that is just where we are going,” said 
the colt. 

Soon they came to the birch tree and one of the 
colts pushed back the bark and there was a big door 
leading into a little room with nothing in it but a 
hearth. Over this hearth hung a large rusty sword 
and a flask. 

“Can you wield that sword?” asked the colt. 

Boots tried but he could not even lift it. Then 
the colt told him to drink out of the flask that hung 
on the wall. As soon as he had done this he could 
swing the sword with ease. 

“Now you had better take that sword with 
you,” said the colt, “and you must cut off our heads 
with it on your wedding day, and then we will 
become princes as we were before. We are all 
brothers of the Princess whom you are to marry 
when you satisfy the King, but a troll has cast a 
spell over us. When you cut off our heads you must 
be very careful to place them right beside the bodies 





94 The Seven Colts 


to which they belong. Then the spell will be ended 
and we will be free.” 

Boots promised to do as the colt said, and they 
went on again. When they had gone quite a bit 
further the colt said again: “Do you see anything?” 

“No!” answered Boots. 

So they travelled many more miles, over the 
woods and through dark forests. 

“Do you see anything now?” asked the colt. 

“Yes,” answered Boots, “I see something that 
looks like a blue strip far off in the distance.” 

“Well that is a river that we have to cross,” said 
the colt. 

At last they came to the broad river that curled 
along between green meadows, and crossed it over a 
long narrow bridge. After they had travelled for 
some distance on the other side, the colt asked again 
if Boots could see anything. 

“Yes,” answered Boots, “It seems to me that 
I can see a church tower far off in the distance.” 

When they reached the church-yard, the colts 
changed into handsome princes, arrayed in the 
most costly garments. They all went into the 
church and up to the altar where a Priest gave them 
the holy bread and wine, and blessed them. Before 





The Seven Colts _ 95 

they went out again, Boots was careful to take a 
little of the holy bread and a small bottle of the holy 
wine, and put them in this pocket. After that they 
all went out into the church yard, where the Princes 
were changed back into colts. 

Boots mounted the back of one of them and 
they returned back the same way they had come. 
It was almost dark when they reached the court 
yard of the palace, but the King stood waiting for 
them on the steps. 

“Have you done your task well and faithfully,” 
he asked Boots. 

“I have done my best,” replied the lad. 

“Well, then you must surely be able to tell me 
what these colts of mine eat and drink,” said the 
King. 

Boots took the holy bread and wine from his 
pocket and showed them to the King. 

“Here is the food and here is the drink,” said 
Boots. 

“Yes, you have guessed right,” said the King, 
“and you shall certainly have the Princess and half 
the Kingdom.” 

So there was a grand wedding feast, but just 
before they all sat down, the bridegroom said that 





96 _ The Seven Colts 

he had forgotten something, and went down into 
the stable. There he did as the colts had told him, 
cut off their heads and placed each one beside its 
body. Immediately they were all changed into 
charming Princes again, and they followed him 
back to the wedding hall. 

When he returned with the seven Princes fol¬ 
lowing him, the King was so happy that he kissed 
him and the Princess was more proud of him than 
ever. And there followed such feasting, the likes of 
which had never been heard of before, because 
everyone was so happy that the Princes had come 
back again. 







LONG way from town in a little hut there 



XV. lived an old woman. She had very little to 
eat and nothing at all to burn, so she sent her son 
out into the forest to get some wood. 

He ran and skipped to keep warm, for it was 
a very cold day, and every once in a while he had 
to stop and swing his arms, for his hands were blue 
and cold. At last he had the wheel-barrow full and 
started homeward. Crossing a field he saw a large 
white stone. 

“You poor old stone, how white and pale you 
look. You must be very cold,” said the lad, and 
he took off his coat and laid it over the stone. 

When he came home, his mother asked him 
what he had done with his coat, and when he told 


97 





98 


The Righteous Penny 


her that he had put it over a stone, she was furious. 
She scolded him roundly and said, 

“Do you suppose that a stone can feel the 
cold? But even if it did, it is not your place to 
cover it. It costs enough to get clothes for you and 
besides, everyone must look out for himself.” 

And then she made him go out in the field 
again to fetch the coat. When he came to the 
place, the stone was turned a little and one corner 
was raised a bit from the ground. On looking 
closer the lad saw that there was a box of shining 
silver pieces underneath. 

“That surely must be stolen money,” thought 
the lad, “for no one would put money out here if 
they had got it in an honest way.” 

So he took the box and carried it down to the 
creek and threw it all in the water. All the shiny 
silver pieces sunk, but one penny floated on top, 
and that one he took. 

“For that must be an honest and righteous 
penny,” he said, “as the righteous ones never go 
down.” 

So he took his coat and penny and went home, 
and when he got there he told his mother about 
the money box, and how he had thrown it in the 
creek because it must have been stolen money— 





99 























100 


The Righteous Penny 


except the righteous penny that had floated on top. 
This tale made his mother more impatient than 
ever. 

“You are a fool, indeed,” she said. “Even if 
this money had been stolen, you found it, and 
everyone must look out for himself. With that 
money we could have lived well for a long time, 
but I am tired of your fooling now. Go out in the 
woods and take care of yourself.” 

So the poor lad started off by himself, and he 
looked far and wide for something to do, but 
everyone thought him too young and not able to 
do much work. At last, however, he found a place 
with a rich merchant. He was to help the cook 
carry water, and fuel for the fire, besides manv 
other little things around the kitchen. 

After he had been there a while the merchant 
was going on a long trip* to foreign lands, and he 
asked all of his servants what they wanted him to 
buy and bring home to them. When they had all 
expressed their wishes, the turn came to the kitchen 
boy, and he pulled out his penny and said to buy 
something with it. 

‘I do not know what I can get you,” said the 
merchant. “You cannot get much for a penny, 
you know.” 





The Righteous Penny 


101 



The Righteous Penny 


“Well, buy what you can,” said the boy, “for 
it is an honest piece of money, I know that.” 

So the merchant sailed away and when he had 
done all of his business in the foreign land and 
bought all the things he had promised for his ser¬ 
vants, he went down to his ship and was just ready 
to sail away, when he remembered the penny that 
the boy had given him. 

He was provoked to think that he would have 
to go back to town again to buy something for it. 
But just then an old woman came limping along 
with a sack on her back. 

“What have you in your sack?” he asked her. 

“Oh, it is only a cat,” answered the old woman. 
“I cannot afford to keep him any longer, so I 
thought I would throw him in the sea.” 

The merchant thought to himself that the boy 
had said to get what he could for the penny, so 
he asked the old woman if she would sell her cat. 




102 


The Righteous Penny 


He did not have much trouble persuading her to 
take the penny for it, I assure you. 

Now when the ship had sailed for a few days, 
a terrible storm came up and they drifted so they 
did not know where they were. Finally they 
landed in a country that the merchant had never 
seen before, and he went ashore and walked into 
town. 

He went to an inn where the table was all laid 
for dinner and at each place he saw a bunch of 
beech twigs, tied firmly together. He thought it 
very strange and wondered what they could pos¬ 
sibly be for, but he soon found out the reason. 

As soon as the dinner was placed on the table, 
thousands of mice came swarming out, and all the 
guests had to use their twigs fast and furiously, 
and every once in a while they would hit each other 
with them, and then they would have to stop and 
say: 

“Pardon me.” 

“It certainly is hard work to eat in this place,” 
said the merchant. “Why don’t you keep some 
cats?” 

Cats? they all asked. “What are they?” 

None of them had ever heard of a cat before 
and they did not have the slightest idea what they 





The mice came swarming out when dinner was served 


103 


104 


The Righteous Penny 


were. So the merchant sent for the cat that he 
had bought with the lad’s penny, and you may be 
sure that the mice scampered off in a great hurry, 
and the people enjoyed their meal in such peace 
as they had never known before. 

They all blessed the merchant and begged and 
pleaded with him to sell them this wonderful 
animal. This he finally consented to do for a hun¬ 
dred dollars and they cheerfully paid him that 
amount. 

So the merchant sailed away again, but 
scarcely had the shore vanished when the cat came 
crawling out of the hold, and just then another 
storm came up which was even worse than the 
first. They drifted and drifted for days until at 
last they landed in another strange country. 

The merchant went to the inn of the town 
and again he found the table set with a bunch of 
twigs at each place, only they were much bigger 
and heavier than the others had been. They cer¬ 
tainly were needed too, for there were twice as 
many mice as there had been at the first place. So 
he sold the cat again, and this time he was paid 
two hundred dollars for it. 

After they were some distance out at sea on 
their return voyage, the Cat crept quietly out of 





The Righteous Penny 


105 


the hold and at the same time a still more violent 
storm came up, and they drifted around helplessly 
again until they were carried to a strange land that 
they had never seen before. 

There the merchant went to an inn, as before, 
and there, too, he found the table all set as before, 
only at this place the bunches of twigs were very 
heavy and over a yard long. The people told him 
that it was almost impossible to get a bite to eat, 
for they had to fight big rats all the time, and they 
did not know what to do about it any more. 

So again the cat was sent for, and of course 
they wanted to buy her at once. They paid the 
merchant four hundred dollars for her and blessed 
him in the bargain. 

When the merchant was out on the high seas 
he began to think how much money the boy had 
made out of one penny. 

“But,” he thought to himself, “he ought not 
to get it all, for it was I who bought the cat and 
made the money, and he has to thank me for it 
all, really. Besides, everyone must look out for 
himself.” 

But scarcely had he thought this before 
another storm arose which was so wild and terrible 
that they were all sure that the ship would go down 






106 


The Righteous Penny 


to the bottom of the sea. Then the merchant saw 
that he had not done the right thing, and promised 
that he would give the lad all the seven hundred 
dollars. Immediately the weather cleared and he 
sailed straight for home without any further mis¬ 
haps. 

When he arrived there he gave the boy all the 
money and his daughter in marriage as well, so 
now the lad was rich and could live and enjoy 
splendor. 

He fetched his mother so that she could share 
in his happiness and did everything for her he 
could, because he did not believe in what she had 
always said: 

“Everyone must look out for himself.” 








W AY far up in Norway there was once a man 
who had caught a great white bear, that he 
wanted to give to the King of that land, so he 
started on his way with it. 

Now it so happened that he arrived at the 
Dovrefell just at Christmas Eve, and he went to a 
small cottage where there lived a man called Hal- 
vor, and asked if he and his bear might spend the 
night there. 

“Oh, Heaven help me!” said Halvor, “I can¬ 
not ask anyone to stay with me, for if you must 
know, a whole pack of trolls come swarming down 
on us every Christmas Eve, and we ourselves have 
to get out and have no place to go—not even a 
roof over our heads.” 


107 





108 _ The Cat on the Dovrefell 


“Well,” said the man, “I do not mind the trolls 
in the least. The bear can sleep under the stove, 
and I will hide in some corner, so please let us 
stay.” 

He kept on pleading until Halvor finally let 
him have his way. Halvor and his family then 
left, but not before they had laid the table as for a 
feast, with everything good to eat you can think 
of—all for the trolls. 

Scarcely had they gone, when the whole pack 
of trolls came swooping down on the cottage. 
Some of them were big, some small, some had tails, 
others had none; but they were all as ugly.as they 
could be. They ate and drank and tasted every¬ 
thing on the table. 

All at once one of them discovered the bear 
under the stove, and he took a sausage, put it on a 
fork, poked it against the bear’s nose, screaming: 

“Pussy, will you have some sausage?” 

This made the big, white bear mad, and rising 
up to his full height, he chased the trolls out of the 
house. 

The following year Halvor went out into the 
woods on the day before Christmas to cut wood for 
cooking the feast for the trolls, as usual. Just as 





The Cat on the Dovrefell _ 109 


he was chopping down a large fir tree, he heard 
someone in the woods calling: 

“Halvor! Halvor!” 

“Yes,” said Halvor, “here I am.” 

“Have you still your big cat with you?” the 
voice asked. 

“Yes indeed, she is lying under the stove, and 
what is worse, she has seven kittens, all bigger and 
more fierce than she is herself.” 

“Well, then, we will never come back to your 
place again,” screamed the troll, and he was as good 
as his word, for since that time no trolls have eaten 
their Christmas dinner with Halvor on the Dov¬ 
refell. 







PTl HERE was once a man who was so cross and 
stubborn that nothing ever pleased him, and 
he always thought that his wife did not do enough 
work around the house. So one evening when he 
came home and scolded worse than ever, his wife 
said: 

“Do not be so angry, my dear, for tomorrow 
I shall go out to the fields and you can stay home 
and mind the house.” 

The man was well pleased with this plan and 
agreed to it, so early the next morning the woman 
took the scythe and went out in the meadow, and 
left the man to do all the little things in the house. 


no 











The Husband Who Was to Mind the House 111 


First he set about churning, but after a while 
he got thirsty and went down into the cellar to 
draw himself a glass of ale. While he was draw¬ 
ing the ale he heard a pig in the house. He ran 
upstairs as fast as he could with the spigot in his 
hand, and when he saw that the pig had tipped over 
the churn and was licking up all the cream, he be¬ 
came so mad that he forgot all about the keg in the 
cellar, but chased the pig out into the yard. 

Then he remembered that he had the spigot 
in his hand, so he hurried on down to the cellar 
only to find that the ale had run all over the floor, 
and that the keg was quite empty. He went out 
into the milk-house, took enough cream to fill the 
churn, and began churning again, for he wanted 
butter for his dinner. 

But he had not churned long before he remem¬ 
bered that the cow was still in the barn and had 
neither food nor drink. He thought that it would 
be too far to take her out to the meadow, but that 
he might get her up on the roof, which was cov¬ 
ered with sod and was quite flat. The house was 
set against a hill and by putting a plank from the 
roof to the hill, he would be able to get the cow 
up there. 






112 The Husband Who Was to Mind the House 


He did not dare leave the churn, however, for 
fear that the baby, who was crawling on the floor, 
might tip it over, so he put it on his back. Before 
taking the cow up on the roof, he had to give her 
some water from the well, but on bending over the 
well, all the cream ran out of the top of the churn 
and down his back. As it was now getting towards 
noon, and he had no butter, he thought he had 
better give it up and make some porridge instead. 

He put a kettle of water over the fire, but sud¬ 
denly he remembered that the cow might walk off 
the roof and break her neck, so he hurried up to 
tie her. He tied one end of the rope around the 
cow’s neck and the other end he dropped down the 
chimney and tied around his own leg. 

As the water was now boiling, he had to make 
the porridge and to keep on stirring it all the time. 
While he was busy doing this the cow actually did 
fall from the roof and pulled the man up in the 
chimney where he got stuck. The poor cow hung 
there in mid-air and could come neither up nor 
down. 

In the meantime the wife was waiting for the 
man to call her to dinner. Finally she got tired of 
waiting and went home. When she saw the cow 





The Husband Who Wasto Mind the House 113 

hanging there, she hastened to cut the rope with 
her scythe, and the cow dropped to the ground. 
Immediately the man fell down the chimney and 
when she came into the kitchen she found him 
standing on his head in the porridge pot. 







T HERE was once a poor old widow who had 
just one son. She was so feeble that she could 
not get about very well, and she sent her son to 
the storehouse to get some meal for cooking. But 
just as he was coming down the storehouse steps 
the North Wind came blustering and blowing up 
and caught the meal and whirled it away in the air. 
The lad went back to the storehouse after some 
more, but when he was coming down the steps 
again, the North Wind came back and carried it 
away again. The lad tried a third time, and a third 
time the North Wind whirled the meal away. 

Then the lad became very angry for he thought 
that the North Wind had no reason to behave in 


114 


The Lad Who Went to the North Wind 115 


such a manner. So he resolved to go in search of 
him and demand his meal back. 

Off he went and walked and walked, for it was 
a long distance, but at last he came to the North 
Wind’s house. 

“Good day to you,” said the lad, “and many 
thanks for your last visit.” 

“Good day to you,” answered the North Wind, 
in a big, gruff voice, “and thank you for coming 
to see me. What do you want?” 

“Oh,” said the lad, “I would like to ask you if 
you would not give me back that meal you carried 
away from me on the steps of the storehouse. It 
was not much but it is all we have to live on and if 
you take that, we will starve.” 

“I have not any of your meal,” said the North 
Wind, “but if you really are in need, I will get you 
something else that will give you everything you 
want. Take this cloth, and all you will have to do 
will be to spread it and say, ‘cloth, spread yourself 
with all kinds of good things to eat’, and it will 
come out as you have asked.” 

The lad was more than pleased with this and 
set out for home, but as the way was long, he de¬ 
cided to spend the night at an inn. As it was just 





116 The Lad Who Went to the North Wind 

supper time, he spread the cloth on a table in the 
corner and said: 

“Cloth, spread yourself, and serve all kinds of 
good things to eat.” 

Scarcely had he said this, before the cloth did 
as it was told, and there were the nicest dishes ever 
you saw. All who stood around marveled at such 
a wonderful cloth, especially the innkeeper’s wife 
who thought how easy it would be for her with 
such a cloth—no cooking, no baking, nor setting 
the table. So she took the lad’s cloth and laid in 
its place another that looked just like the magic 
cloth, but of course it could not spread itself or do 
anything at all. 

Early the next morning the lad awoke, took 
the cloth, and hurried off with it. When he got 
home to his Mother he said: 

“Well, I have seen the North Wind, and he 
surely is a fine fellow, for he gave me this wonder¬ 
ful cloth. When I say: ‘cloth spread yourself and 
serve up all kinds of good things to eat,’ I get all 
sorts of fine dishes.” 

“I dare say that you are speaking the truth,” 
said the mother, but I must see it with my own eyes 
first.” 






117 







































118 The Lad Who Went to the North Wind 


The lad hastened to a table, spread the cloth 
on it, and said: 

“Cloth spread yourself, and serve up all kinds 
of good things to eat.” 

But the cloth did not even have a dry piece of 
bread to serve. 

“Well,” said the lad, “there is no help for it, I 
must go to the North Wind again.” 

And after another long wandering, he came to 
the North Wind’s house again. 

“Good evening,” said the lad. 

“Good evening,” answered the North Wind. 

“I want you to make it right with me for the 
meal you took,” said the lad, “for the cloth you 
gave me was no good.” 

“I have, not any meal,” said the North Wind, 
“But I will give you this Ram who can coin you 
all the gold pieces you want. All you have to do 
is to say, ‘Ram make money!’ ” 

The lad was very well pleased with this, and 
as he was very far from home, he went again to 
the same inn for the night. Before he had his 
supper, he tried the ram, to see if it really could 
make money, as the North Wind had said and sure 
enough, he found that it could do all the North 
Wind had claimed for it. 





The Lad Who Went to the North Wind 119 

But when the landlord saw this he thought 
that it was a very tine Ram, and as soon as the lad 
was asleep, he put another, which could not even 
make a penny, in its place. 

Early in the morning the lad was on his way, 
and when he got home, he said to his mother: 

“The North Wind is indeed a fine fellow. He 
gave me a Ram that will coin all the money I want, 
if only I say: ‘Ram! make money’.” 

“Very true, I dare say,” said his mother, “but 
it all sounds like nonsense to me, and I shall not 
believe it until I see the money.” 

The lad then said: “Ram, make money!” 
but the ram could not make anything. So off he 
went again to the home of the North Wind and 
when he got there, he told him that the ram was 
no good and that he wanted something for the 
meal. 

“Well,” said the North Wind, “I have no meal 
for you, but here is a stick I gill give you. In case 
of need you have only to say, Stick, stick, lay on, 
lay on,’ and it will lay on and beat until you say, 

‘Stick! stick! now stop’.” 

And again the lad went to the same inn, and 
as he had begun to suspect what had happened to 
the cloth and the Ram, he laid down on a bench 





120 The Lad Who Went to the North Wind 

and began to snore as though he were fast asleep. 
The old innkeeper thought at once that the old 
stick must be something valuable too, so he found 
one exactly like it and was just going to put it in 
its place, when the lad awoke and cried out: 

“Stick, stick! lay on, lay on.” 

The stick began to beat the innkeeper, until 
he jumped over chairs and tables trying to get away 
from it. 

“Oh my! oh my!” cried the man, “Stop that 
stick of yours before it kills me, and I will give you 
back your cloth, and your ram.” 

When the lad thought that the innkeeper had 
had enough and his stolen property had been re¬ 
turned, he said: “Stick, stick, now stop.” 

Then he put the cloth in his pocket, took the 
stick in his hand, and tied a rope around the horns 
of the ram, and hurried home as fast as his legs 
could carry him. And so he really got good return 
for the meal he lost. 






The Lad Who Went to the North Wind 121 


The stick began to 


beat the inn-keeper 










T | THERE was once a person who was so high 

and mighty, that he wanted everyone to step 
aside for him. When he drove on the King’s high¬ 
way he would call out in a loud voice, if he hap¬ 
pened to meet anyone: 

“Out of the way! Out of the way! Here 
comes the parson.” 

But one day when he was riding along, he met 
the King. The parson did not know him and 
called out a long way off. 

“Out of the way! Out of the way! Here 
comes the parson.” 

But the King paid no attention and drove 
right on, so that the parson was forced to turn to 


122 


The Parson and the Deacon _123 

one side. When the King came up beside him he 
said: 

“Tomorrow you must come up to the palace 
and answer three questions that I will ask you. If 
you cannot answer them you will lose your office 
as parson.” 

This was not what the parson was used to at 
all. He was always the one to bully, shout and 
scold, and that he did very well. But it was quite 
another thing to answer the questions that the 
King was going to ask him. He thought at once 
of the deacon who was thought to be very clever, 
and hurried to him as fast as he could. 

He told him the whole story and said that he 
had no mind to go to the King, for a “fool can ask 
more questions than a wise man can answer” and 
finally made the deacon promise that he would go 
in his place. 

So the deacon put on the parson’s clothes and 
went to the palace. The King met him at the door, 
in all his pomp and splendor, with his golden 
crown that glittered and gleamed in the light. 

“Well,” said the King, “Come in and we will 
see if you can answer question number one. How 
far is the East from the West?” 





124 The Parson and the Deacon 


“Oh!” said the deacon, “that is easy. Just a 
day’s journey.” 

“How do you make that,” asked the King, 

“Well,” said the deacon, “You know that the 
Sun rises in the East and sets in the West and it 
takes him just a day to do it.” 

“That is all very well,” said the King, “But 
you can now tell me how much I am worth as I 
stand here.” 

“Yes,” said the deacon, “that I can. Our Lord 
was only valued at thirty pieces of silver and you 
cannot be worth more than he, so I will put you 
down at twenty-nine pieces of silver.” 

“Well said!” answered the King, “But tell me 
now—since you are so wise—what I am thinking 
of at this moment?” 

“You are thinking that it is the parson that 
you are talking to just now, but you are mistaken, 
for I am the deacon.” 

“You are indeed a wise fellow,” said the King, 
“and after this you shall be the parson, and the 
parson the deacon.” 

And so it was. 






C.lrtNTJMt 

WHOM 
HAD MO 
H6ART 
IN HIS 
BODY 


A GREAT King had seven sons and he loved 
them all dearly. He could hardly even bear 
them out of his sight and he always had at least 
one of them with him all the time. 

When they grew to be young men they 
wanted to go out into the world and seek brides 
for themselves, but the King could not endure 
being left alone, so he said that the youngest son 
should stay with him and the other six should 
choose his bride and bring her back with theirs. 

Then the King gave the six princes the finest 
clothes ever you saw and big, beautiful horses, and 
off they went. They visited many lands and many 
strange places until after a long time they came 
to a King who had six daughters, all the loveliest 


125 






126 The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body 


princesses that they had ever seen. They fell in 
love at once with these beautiful girls and asked 
them to be their brides. As the princes v/ere fine 
looking fellows, the princess consented. So the 
lads set off for home again with their six brides, 
but they forgot all about the one they had promised 
to bring their brother at home. 

After they had gone a long way, they passed 
a steep mountain, on whose top a giant had his 
house. The giant himself came out and saw them 
as they were passing, and as he set his eyes on 
them, they were all turned into stone. 

In the meantime the old King waited and 
waited for his sons to come back, but they did not 
come. He grieved and worried all day long and 
said to his youngest son: 

“If it were not for you, I would not care to 
live any longer, for my other sons are surely dead.” 

“Father, may I please go out into the world 
and find them?” asked the young Prince. 

“Nay! nay! my son, I will not let you do that, 
for then I might lose you, too,” answered the King. 

But the Prince had made up his mind to go 
and he begged and pleaded so long that at last the 
father gave in. He gave him an old horse, which 




The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body 127 

was all he had left, but the Prince did not care, and 
as he mounted the sorry old steed, he said: 

“Good by, father dear, have no fear for me 
and I shall bring you back my six brothers.” 

After he had gone a little way, he saw a raven 
lying in the road, flapping her wings, and half 
head from hunger. 

“Dear friend, give me a little to eat and I will 
help you in your hour of greatest need,” said the 
dying bird. 

“I have not much, and I do not see how you 
can ever help me, but I will give you some just the 
same,” replied the lad, and he gave the raven some 
of the food he had with him. 

When he had gone a little further he came to 
a brook and there was a salmon which had got up 
on a dry place and could not get back into the 
water. 

“Oh, dear friend,” cried the salmon, “will you 
please help me to get back into the water again and 
I will help you in your utmost need.” 

“Surely,” said the Prince, “the help that you 
can give me, will not amount to much, I am sure, 
but I will not leave you to lie here and die” and 
he threw the fish in the water again. 

After he had traveled a long, long way and his 





128 The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body 

poor old horse had fallen beneath him, he met a 
wolf that was so famished that he could scarcely 
crawl. 

“Please give me something to eat,” said the 
wolf, “for I am very hungry and I have not had 
any food for a long, long time. If you help me now, 
you can ride on my back and I will help you when 
you need it most.” 

“Well,” said the Prince, “I do not count much 
on your help, but I can not let you starve.” 

So he gave him all the food he had left, put 
the saddle on the wolf’s back, the bit between his 
teeth, and off they went like the wind. Never in 
his life had the Prince had such a ride. 

“When we have gone a little further, I will 
show you the giant’s house,” said the wolf, and a 
little later they came to it. 

“There the wolf showed him the stones which 
were his brothers and their brides, and the young 
Prince wept over them.” 

“Dry your tears,” said the wolf. 

“Go in that door and you will find a Princess, 
who will tell you how to deal with the giant, but 
mind you do as she tells you.” 

So the Prince entered the big door, and truth 
to tell he was really very much afraid, but he did 






He put the saddle on the Wolf’s back, the bit between his teeth 







129 


130 The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body 

not see the giant anywhere. But in one room he 
found the loveliest Princess that he had ever seen, 
and she cried out at sight of him: 

“Where do you come from! This surely will 
be the end of you, for the giant who lives here has 
no heart at all in his body, so no one can possibly 
hurt him.” 

“Well,” answered the Prince, “As long as I am 
here, I may as well try to do what I can, just the 
same. For I want to free my six brothers who are 
turned into stone, and their brides too, and as for 
you I certainly must set you free also.” 

“Well, if you must, you must,” said the Prin¬ 
cess, “and we will try to find a way. But creep 
under the bed now, for he will soon be here, and 
listen well to everything he and I talk about. And 
mind! you must be as still as a mouse.” 

So he crept under the bed and scarcely had he 
done so before the giant came. 

“Ha! what a smell of Christian blood,” roared 
the giant. 

“Yes, I know,” said the Princess, “a crow flew 
by with a human bone in its bill and dropped it 
through the chimney, and though I hastened to 
get it out, the smell is still here.” 





The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body 131 

The giant said no more about it, but began to 
eat, and after awhile the Princess said: 

“There’s something I would like to ask you, if 
I only dared.” 

“And pray what is that?” asked the giant. 

“Where do you keep your heart since it is not 
in your body?” said the Princess. 

“Oh, do not trouble yourself about that,” 
said the giant, “but if you want to know, it is 
under the door sill.” 

“Oh ho,” thought the Prince under the bed, 
“we shall easily find it there.” 

All night the young Prince lay hidden. Very 
early next morning the giant arose and strode off 
to the woods and scarcely had he gone before the 
two set to work digging and searching under the 
door sill, but nothing was to be found. 

“He has fooled us this time,” said the Princess, 
“but we will try again.” 

Then she gathered up the loveliest flowers 
that she could find and spread them all over the 
door sill, and when it was time for the giant to 
come, the Prince crept under the bed again. 

Not long after the Prince had hidden him¬ 
self, the giant came stamping up the stairs. 





132 The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body 

“Ho hum!” he cried, “I surely smell Christian 
blood this time.” 

“Yes! I know,” said the Princess, “A crow 
flew by again with a human bone in its bill and 
dropped it through the chimney, and though I 
made haste to get it out, I dare say the smell is still 
here.” 

The giant said no more about it, but after a 
while he asked who had put all the flowers about 
the door sill. 

“It was I, of course,” said the Princess. 

“And why did you do that?” asked the giant. 

“Well, you see, because your heart lies there,” 
said the Princess. 

“So that is it,” said the giant, “But it is not 
there after all,” and he laughed at her and began 
to eat in high good humor. 

But, after a time, the Princess again asked him 
where his heart was kept. 

“Oh! if you are so anxious to know,” he said, 
“it is over in the cupboard against the wall.” 

In the morning he was off early, and again the 
two searched for his heart. But though they 
looked over the cupboard from top to bottom, they 
did not find a trace of it. 





The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body 133 


“Well,” said the Princess, “We will try just 
once more,” and so saying, she decked the cup¬ 
board with garlands and flowers, while the Prince 
crept under the bed. 

“Oh ho!” cried the giant, as he stamped in 
the door, “what a smell of Christian blood there 
is in this house.” 

“I know there is,” said the Princess, “for a 
crow flew by with a human bone in its bill and 
dropped it through the chimney, and though I 
threw it out at once, I dare say you can still 
smell it.” 

The giant said no more, but when he saw 
the flower decked cupboard, he wanted to know 
what all the foolishness meant. 

“Oh,” said the Princess, “It was I who did it 
because you said that your heart lies there.” 

“Are you really so foolish that you believe 
that?” asked the giant. 

“Should I not believe it when you yourself told 
me so?” said the Princess. 

“You are a little goose,” said the giant, but he 
laughed, in great good humor. 

“But please tell me, I should like so much to 
know,” kept on the Princess, smiling her prettiest 
smile. 





134 The Giant fVho Had No Heart in His Body 

And then the giant could not keep his secret 
any longer, but said: “Far, far away in a big lake 
lies an island; on that island is a church; in that 
church is a well; in that well swims a duck; in 
that duck is an egg; and in that egg lies my 
heart.” 

Early the next morning before dawn the 
giant left for the woods again. 

“I must be on my way, too,” said the Prince, 
“But, oh—if only I knew how to find that lake 
and that island.” 

He bade the Princess goodby, and when he 
stepped out of the door whom should he see but 
the wolf. He told all that had happened, and how 
he wished he knew the way. Then the wolf bade 
the Prince sit on his back, and he would take him 
there, for well he knew the way. Off they went, 
over hill and dale, over hedges and fields, so fast 
that the wind whistled in their ears. 

After they had gone like this for many days, 
they came to the lake, but the Prince did not know 
how he should cross to the island. The wolf 
told him not to worry for he would swim over 
with the lad on his back. But when they were 
over at last the church was there as the giant had 





The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body 135 

said, but the keys were hanging far up in the air 
on the tower. 

“Call upon the raven now,” said the wolf, and 
the lad obeyed. 

As soon as the Prince called, the raven came, 
flew up to the tower, and got the keys; so that the 
Prince opened the doors and went in. When he 
came to the well, he saw the duck swimming 
back and forth, back and forth. He coaxed it 
until at last it came so near that he grasped it. 

But when he lifted it up, the egg fell down to 
the bottom of the well, and he could not see how 
he could ever get it again. 

“Call upon the salmon now,” said the wolf, 
and instantly the salmon came, swam down and 
fetched the egg. 

“Now,” said the wolf, “squeeze it hard.” 

The Prince did as he was told, and far off, 
then nearer and nearer came the voice of the giant 
screaming and begging the lad to spare his life. 
But this the Prince would grant only on condition 
that the giant would restore to life his six brothers 
and their brides, and this the great helpless crea¬ 
ture was forced to do. After that, the Prince took 
the giant’s heart and placed it upon the altar in the 





136 The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body 

church, where it would have no power to do any 
more evil. 

Then the happy Prince mounted the wolf’s 
back again, and away they flew as they had come, 
over dale and hill, over hedges and fields, until at 
last they reached the house of the Giant once more, 
and there they found the six brothers and their 
brides, happy to be alive again. 

The Prince went in to fetch the lovely Prin¬ 
cess and they all set off together for home. You 
can imagine how happy the old King was to see all 
of his sons again, and he gave a great wedding 
feast, at which the seat of honor was held by the 
youngest Prince and his bride. 

“For,” said the King, “we owe all our happi¬ 
ness to him, and he has the loveliest bride of them 
all.” 






H ALVOR was the son of a poor old couple. 

Ever since he had been a little fellow, he 
would not turn his hand to anything, but only sat 
and groped in the ashes. His old parents often 
tried to get him to learn a trade, but he would not 
stay anywhere, and soon was back to the ash heaps. 

Then one day a sea captain came along and 
asked Halvor if he would not like to go out on the 
high seas with him and see strange lands and peo¬ 
ple. Now this appealed very much to Halvor and 
he lost no time in getting ready. 

So they sailed and sailed for a long time until 
at last a great storm came up and drove the ship in 


137 





138_ Soria Moria Castle 

on a strange coast. When the storm was over it 
grew so calm that they could not get away, so Hal- 
vor asked permission of the captain, to go ashore 
and look around. 

The captain said that he could go but must 
promise to hurry back as soon as the wind came 
up. So off he started and found a beautiful country, 
but not a living soul did he see. 

Then Halvor forgot all about his promise to 
the captain and started walking away from the sea. 
Towards evening he came to a large castle that was 
all lighted up. He walked straight into the kitchen, 
where a big fire was burning on the hearth and such 
a kitchen as it was! Even the pots and pans were 
of silver and gold. 

When no one came in answer to his hail, he 
opened one of the doors and, lo and behold! there 
sat a lovely Princess at her spinning wheel. 

“Who are you?” she cried, “and how dare you 
come hither. Be off quickly please, for a troll with 
three heads lives here and he will surely gobble 
you up.” 

“It is all the same to me how many heads he 
has” said the lad, “I should like to see the fellow. 





Soria Mona Castle _139 

But you must give me something to eat for I am 
nearly starved.” 

After he had eaten, the Princess asked him if 
he could swing the great sword that hung above the 
fireplace—and though he tried to swing it he 
could not even lift it. So then she took down a 
flask that hung beside it and bade him drink 
thereof. 

No sooner had he sipped from the flask, than 
he was able to lift and swing the sword as easily 
as could be. He wished for the troll to come 
then and at the same instant they heard him 
coming, snorting and blowing. 

Halvor jumped quickly behind the door, just 
as the troll flung it open, poking all three of his 
heads in. 

“What is this?” he cried, “methinks I smell 
the blood of a Christian.” 

“Aye,” thought Halvor, “and you will soon 
know that to your sorrow,” and with that he swung 
the sword and cut off all three heads at once. 

The princess was very happy and begged him 
to save her two sisters. One had been taken by a 
troll in a castle fifty miles off, and the other by a 
troll who lived still further away. 





140 


Soria Moria Castle 


So Halvor said that he would do his best to 
free them too and started out next morning at 
break of dawn, taking the sword and the flask with 
him. He walked all day and toward evening he 
came to a castle still grander than the first. He 
walked straight in and found the second Princess 
who was startled to see him and told him to flee 
at once, for a troll with six heads lived there. 

“I shall not go until wou are set free,” said 
Halvor, and he told her about the sword and the 
flask which the other princess had given him. 

After he had a big supper, he stood behind the 
door for he heard the troll coming. Now this one 
was so big and fat that he had to go sideways to 
get through the door, and as soon as he got the 
first head through he sniffed and bellowed: 

“Methinks that I smell Christian blood,” but 
at that instant Halvor sprang out and chopped off 
first one head then all the others in their turn. 

The princess was overjoyed and thanked him 
with all her heart. So after a good night’s rest, 
he started out again to find the third castle. He 
walked without stopping all day long and as night 
was falling he saw it in the distance. It shimmered 






141 


























































142 


Soria Moria Castle 


with silver and gold and was far more beautiful 
than the other two, and it was called, Soria Moria 
Castle. 

Halvor hurried as fast as he could and walked 
through the kitchen into the next room. There 
sat the youngest and most lovely princess of them 
all, sitting at her spinning wheel. She gave a little 
cry when she saw him and begged him to hurry 
off, for there was a troll there with nine heads, and 
he was tremendously big besides. 

But Halvor was not afraid and showed her the 
sword and the flask which the other sister had given 
him. Very soon they heard the troll coming, tear¬ 
ing and roaring. He was even bigger than the 
other two, and he also had to go sideways through 
the door. 

“What is this?” he yelled, “Methinks I smell 
Christian blood.” But that very moment Halvor 
chopped off the first head and then all the others as 
they came popping through the door. The last 
one, however, was the hardest bit of work he had 
ever done and he had quite a time getting it off. 

But at last it was done—and now they sent 
for the other two sisters and all celebrated their 





Soria Moria Castle 


143 


rescue and made much over Halvor. But after a 
while he became homesick and wanted to see his 
old parents again. So they fitted him out as a 
Prince for the journey and just before he left, the 
youngest princess slipped a ring on his finger and 
said: 

“This ring is such that it will take you where- 
ever you want to go, but you must never mention 
our names to any one, or take it off. If you do 
either we will be lost to you forever.” 

So Halvor bade them all good by, and said 
that he would soon be back again, for the youngest 
princess had promised to marry him. 

“If only I were home now,” he said turning 
the ring around on his finger. 

Immediately he found himself standing beside 
the little cottage where his parents lived. Dusk 
was just falling as he opened the little door. 

When the old parents saw such a grand and 
fine lord enter their house they were very em- 
barassed and began to bow and scrape. Halvor 
asked if he might rest himself a bit, and sat down 
in the corner. He began poking the ashes as he had 
always done. 




144 


Soria Moria Castle 


Suddenly the light from the fire fell on his face 
and his Mother recognized him. 

“Is that really you, Halvor?” she cried, and 
threw herself at his knees. 

Then there was such feasting and rejoicing 
as the little cottage had never seen before. The old 
couple wanted to hear all about his adventures, so 
Halvor began to tell them all that had happened to 
him. He forgot about the promise that he had 
made the Princesses and described their beauty as 
well as he could. 

“Oh, I do wish that you could see them your¬ 
selves,” he said, and no sooner had he uttered these 
words, than they all stood before him. 

The youngest Princess said sadly: “You did 
not keep your promise, so the ring has lost its power 
and you will never see us again.” And they van¬ 
ished as quickly as they appeared. 

When Halvor understood what he had done, 
he was overcome with grief and told his parents 
that he must start out at once and try to find his 
way to Soria Moria Castle. He loved the beauti¬ 
ful princess so much that he could not live without 
her. The old folks were sorry to lose him so soon, 
but gave him their blessing and bade him farewell. 






Soria Moria Castle 


145 



The ring has lost its power 





146_ Soria Moria Castle 

Halvor walked and walked and never one 
minute did he stop to rest. One day he came to a 
great forest that was nearly as dark as mid-night. 
Day after day he walked through these gloomy 
woods until he began to believe that they were un¬ 
ending. And just then he saw a light gleaming 
through the tall trees ahead. 

It came from the windows of a little hut and 
Halvor went straight up to it and knocked at the 
door. There was an old couple living there and 
they received him very kindly, inviting him in and 
urging him to eat of their meager' fare. 

Halvor was glad to eat for he was very hungry 
after his long walk. When he had finished, he 
asked the old woman if she could tell him the way 
to Soria Moria Castle. 

“No,” she answered, “That I do not know, but 
just wait until the moon comes up and I will ask 
her. She probably knows for she sheds her light 
everywhere.” 

So when the moon stood bright and shining 
over the tree tops she went outside and cried: 

“Moon! oh moon, can you tell me the way to 
Soria Moria Castle?” 





Soria Moria Castle 147 

“No,” said the moon, “that I can not, for when 
I last shone on it, there was a cloud over me.” 

“Wait a while,” said the old woman to Halvor, 
“for soon the West Wind will blow up and he sure¬ 
ly knows the way for he blows everywhere. And 
I tell you what I will do. We have a pair of old 
boots here that will take you fifteen miles in every 
stride. I will give th£m to you and they will soon 
take you to Soria Moria Castle.” 

Halvor thanked the woman very much and 
wanted to start right away, but she stopped him and 
told him that he must wait for the West Wind to 
come and find out the way from him. So he laid 
down on a bench and rested for a bit. 

Soon the West Wind came, blowing and tear¬ 
ing along so that the walls of the poor little hut 
groaned and creaked. The old woman went out 
and hailed him thus: 

“Listen, thou W T est Wind, listen, can you tell 
me the way to the Soria Moria Castle? Here is a 
lad who wants to go there very much indeed.” 

“Certainly I can,” said the West Wind. “I 
know the place very well. In fact I am off for it 
now to dry the clothes for the wedding of the Prin- 





148 Soria Moria Castle 

cess, and if he is swift and light of foot, the lad can 
come with me.” 

Out ran Halvor and put on the boots. 

“Hurry up, if you want to come with me,” 
cried the West Wind, and off they dashed over hill 
and dale. 

At last they came to a crossroads and here the 
West Wind stopped and said that he had to go to 
the bleaching ground and dry the clothes, but he 
told Halvor to walk along the other path. 

Halvor thanked him and went on. He soon 
found himself in the midst of a great throng of 
people, all going to the castle to celebrate the wed¬ 
ding of the youngest princess. So he followed 
along with a heavy heart, and kept himself well 
hidden in the crowd, for his clothes Were all ragged 
and torn after the wild dash with the West Wind. 

Now it was the custom in those days for every 
one to drink to the health of the bride. So in the 
great hall of the palace were crowded, beggars, 
knights, and ladies, and peasants as well. The cup¬ 
bearer offering the wine in a golden cup, came 
to Halvor at last. He emptied the goblet, slipped 
the ring into it, and bade the cup-bearer take it to 
the princess with his greeting. 





Soria Moria Castle 


149 


She recognized it at once, and sprang up and 
cried: 

“Who is most worthy to be my bridegroom? 
The one who sits here by my side, or the one who 
saved my sisters and myself from the trolls?” 

Of course all agreed that he who had saved her 
life was the most worthy. So Halvor was arrayed 
in great splendor, took his seat beside the lovely 
princess, and the wedding was celebrated with 
great joy and merriment in the beautiful halls of 
Soria Moria Castle. 






T HERE were once two brothers who were 
called True and Untrue. True was honest and 
kind, but Untrue was just the opposite and could 
not be trusted. Their mother was a widow and did 
not have much to live on, so the boys had to go out 
into the world and make their own way, but before 
they started, she gave each one of them a little 
basket of food. 

They walked on and on until evening, and 
then they sat down on the stump of an old tree, and 
took out their baskets for they were very hurigry. 

“Would it not be a good plan, True, to eat out 
of your basket first?” asked Untrue, “and after 
your’s is empty, we can start on mine.” 


150 


The Two Brothers 


151 


True thought that it was a splendid idea, and 
offered the food to his brother, who was careful to 
take the best pieces for himself. Next morning 
they again ate out of True’s basket, and again at 
noon, but at evening the basket was quite empty. 

Now True naturally expected that Untrue 
would share with him the contents of his basket, 
but Untrue said that he had no more than he could 
use himself. 

“But I gave you half of the food that I had in 
my basket,” cried True. 

“Well,” said Untrue, “I can not help that. If 
you are such a fool that you have given away what 
you had, you will simply have to go hungry.” 

“Untrue is your name, and untrue you cer¬ 
tainly are,” cried True. 

' At this, Untrue became so angry that he flew 
at his Brother and struck out both of his eyes. 

“Now go and try to see whether people are true 
or untrue, you blind beggar!” shouted Untrue. 

So poor True stumbled around alone in the 
great forest and his poor blind eyes could not tell 
him where to go. But at last he got hold of a great 
linden tree, which he thought to climb, in order to 
be safe from the wild animals. 





152 The Two Brothers 


“When the birds begin to sing, I shall know 
it is day again,” he thought. 

Just then he heard someone come to the bot¬ 
tom of the tree and commence to cook supper. 
Soon a second came, then a third and finally a 
fourth. As they greeted each other, he learned 
that they were the Bear, the Wolf, the Fox and the 
Hare, who had all met to have supper together. 

“Would it not be a fine idea if we all told a 
story while we sit here,” said the Fox. 

All thought that it would be a good plan, so 
the Bear started first for he was the biggest of 
them all. 

“The king of England is troubled with such 
bad eyesight, that he can scarcely see at all,” he 
said. “But all he has to do, if he only knew it, is 
to come to this linden tree, early in the morning, 
when the dew sparkles on the leaves, and smear 
his eyes with the fresh dewy leaves. Then he would 
be able to see as well as ever.” 

“Yes, indeed,” said the wolf, “and what is 
more, the King of England has a deaf and dumb 
daughter. But if he only knew what I know, he 
could easily cure her. Last year, when she went to 
Communion, she dropped a piece of holy wafer on 






The King of England is losing his sight 


153 



154 _ The Two Brothers 

the floor and a big toad swallowed it. Now if they 
only break open the church floor, catch and cut 
open the toad, and give the princess the wafer to 
eat, she would hear and speak as well as before.” 

“Right you are,” said the Fox. “And if the 
King of England only knew what I know, he 
would have no trouble about the water in his yard. 
Right in the middle of the yard there lies a big 
stone and if he would only dig under this stone, he 
would have the clearest, most pure spring in the 
land.” 

“Yes,” said the hare, “and the King of Eng¬ 
land has also the finest orchard in the land, but it 
will not bear fruit, and I know why. Deep down in 
the ground lies a heavy gold chain that is wound 
around the orchard three times, If he could get rid 
of that chain, he would have a wonderful orchard.” 

“It is getting very late, my friends,” said the 
fox, “so I think that we had each better be on his 
way,” and as he spoke, each of them departed on 
his own path. 

True stayed up in the linden tree all night, 
and when he heard the birds singing at the break 
of dawn, he took some leaves with the fresh dew 
on them and smeared them over his eyes. Instantly 





The Two Brothers _ 155 

he could see as well as ever. He climbed down 
and went straight to the King of England’s palace, 
where he was taken into service and put to work 
at once. 

One day the King came out into the yard 
where True was busy at his work and wanted a 
drink of water from the pump, for it was very hot. 
But when they had drawn the water, it was both ill¬ 
smelling and ill-looking. The King was provoked 
and said: 

“I do not believe that anyone in all my King¬ 
dom has such bad water as I.” 

“If you would get me some men to lift the big 
stone over there,” said True, “I know where I 
could get you some clear cold water.” 

The King was most willing and immediately 
ordered some of his men to the task. As soon as 
the stone was moved, True dug a bit with a spade, 
and lo! up gushed a sparkling stream of clear cold 
water, as good as any in all England. 

Sometime later the King came again into the 
court yard and, seeing a large hawk about to prey 
on his chickens, he seized a rifle, but his eyes were 
so poor, that he could not see well enough to 
aim it. 





156 _ The Two Brothers 

So he dropped his rifle and said sorrowfully, 
“If I do not soon get some help for my poor eyes, 
I shall not be able to see at all, anymore.” 

“I believe that I can help you, sir,” said True, 
and then he told the King about how he had been 
cured at the Linden tree. 

You may be sure that the King lost no time, 
but travelled there that evening. In the early 
morning he rubbed his eyes with the dewy leaves, 
and was cured at once. 

After that there was no one in the whole land 
that the King thought more of than of True. He 
wanted him with him wherever he went. And so it 
was that one day as they were walking in the 
orchard the King said: 

“I do not know why I should have such poor 
luck with my fruit trees. No one in the whole 
country spends more care on his land than I do, 
and yet look at the results I get.” 

“That is so,” said True, “but I think that I can 
help you. If you will give me enough men to spade 
up the garden, besides promising me that I may 
keep what I find under the ground, I am sure that 
your trees will bear as well as anyone’s.” 





The Two Brothers 157 


“Of course you may have the men,” answered 
the King, “and you most certainly shall have what¬ 
ever you may find under the ground.” 

It was not long before the chain had been dug 
up and immediately the trees began to bear the best 
fruit that one could wish. Thus True became a 
very rich man and the King was more devoted to 
him than ever, for he had given him his eye sight 
again, besides plenty of fresh water, and the finest 
fruit that one could find in all England. 

But one day as they were talking together, 
the Princess went by, and the King grew very sad 
at the sight of her. He turned to True and said: 

“Is it not terrible that this lovely daughter of 
mine can neither hear or speak?” 

“Well there may be help for that,” answered 
True. 

When the King heard this he was so overjoyed, 
that he offered him the hand of the princess, and 
half the Kingdom beside, if he could make her well 
again. 

So True took a couple of men with him to the 
church who lifted up the floor and found the toad. 
They cut him open and took out the wafer which 
they carefully carried back to the Princess. Im- 





158 The Two Brothers 

mediately she was herself again and began to dance 
and sing with joy. 

The King kept his promise and provided a 
wonderful wedding celebration that was talked of 
both far and near. But in the midst of the feast¬ 
ing and dancing, a poor man came into the court¬ 
yard and begged a crust of bread. They all felt 
sorry for him, for he looked so ragged and hungry, 
but True saw that it was his own brother, Untrue. 

“Do you know me?” asked True of his brother. 

“How should I know one so grand as you?” 
said Untrue. 

“You should remember me well enough,” said 
True, “for once you were very cruel to me, but I 
have forgiven you now and only remember that 
you are my brother after all. So when you have 
had something to eat and are rested, I want you to 
go to that linden tree where I learned all the things 
that made me what I am today. If you can have 
the same good fortune, I shall be very glad indeed.” 

Untrue did not have to be told twice. “If True 
has learned so much in that tree that it has made 
him King over half of England,” thought he, “I 
had better try too.” 






1 

Ml' 

UM l 




Pill 


> v « 0 < 






0€C^M€ A RICHJWN 


159 



































































160 _ The Two Brothers 

So he hurried out to the woods, found the lin¬ 
den tree and climbed into it. It was not long until 
the animals came to the foot of the tree and began 
to feast. After a while the fox suggested that they 
tell stories. You may well imagine that Untrue 
leaned forward eagerly in order that he might get 
every word. But the big bear was cross and in a bad 
mood. He grumbled and said: 

“Some one has carried about what I told last 
year, so for my part I am going to keep quiet.” 

So they bade each other good night, and each 
took his own way. Thus Untrue was none the 
wiser for his trouble, and it served him right, for 
untrue he was and untrue he had always been. 






Ttfe TweLve wild bucks 



long time ago there was a beautiful queen who 



A had twelve sons but no daughter. Now it 
happened that one winter’s day when she was out 
driving in the forest she saw a rosy faced little girl 
so pretty that she stopped the sleigh and called the 
little girl to her side. As she took the pretty little 
girl into her arms she said to herself,—“Oh, how I 
wish I had a little daughter as charming and as 
pretty as this little girl.” 

No sooner had she said these words than an 
old woman who looked very kind but who was 
really a wicked witch, came up to her and said: 

“Your wish shall come true! You shall have 
a daughter as beautiful as a rose, and she shall be 


161 


162 The Twelve Wild Ducks 

lovelier than any other Princess, if you will only 
give me what comes to meet you on the bridge.” 

Now the queen had a little snow white dog, 
that usually ran to meet her on the bridge, and she 
thought that it was this that the old dame wanted. 
So she gave her promise. 

But when she came to the bridge, her twelve 
sons came out to meet her, and before she could say 
or do anything, they were all changed into wild 
ducks, flapping their wings, rising high up and 
flying away. 

But to the queen came the daughter that she 
had longed for so much, and the child grew to be 
the loveliest Princess in the land. But often she 
was sad and quiet and no one knew why. The 
queen, too, was often sorrowful for she thought of 
her twelve sons and wondered whether she would 
ever see them again. 

One day she said to the Princess: 

“What troubles you, my dear child? Is there 
anything that you want? Tell me and you shall 
have it” 

“I am so lonely, mother dear,” answered the 
Princess. “Every one else has brothers and sisters, 
but I have none. That is why I am so sad.” 





The Twelve Wild Ducks 


163 


“But you too have brothers, daughter-mine,” 
said the queen, and then told her the whole story 
of how the Princes had been changed into wild 
ducks because of the wicked old witch. 

When the Princess heard this she had no peace 
of mind any more, for she thought it all her fault, 
and though the queen begged and pleaded with her, 
it was of no avail, for she was determined to go out 
into the world and find her twelve brothers. So, at 
last, she bade her mother good by and left the 
palace. 

She walked and walked until you would never 
believe that her delicate feet could have carried her 
so far. One day she came to a big dark forest and 
she felt so weary that she sat down on the stump 
of a tree and fell asleep. 

She dreamed that she walked still further into 
the woods until she came to a small wooden hut, 
and there were her twelve brothers. 

When she awoke she saw a little path leading 
deep into the woods, cut through the trees and lined 
with green moss. 

She followed the little path and finally she 
came to just such a little hut as she had dreamed of. 
She walked right in but no one was there, but there 
were twelve beds, twelve chairs, twelve spoons and 





164 


The Twelve Wild Ducks 


twelve of everything 1 . When she saw these things, 
she was very happy for she understood that her 
brothers really lived there and that the beds and 
chairs and everything really belonged to them. 

So she made the beds and tidied the room as 
best she could and cooked a very nice dinner. Just 
as she had finished she heard something flapping 
and swirling in the air above, and quickly she 
jumped behind the door. 

Then all twelve wild ducks came flying 
through the door, and as soon as they passed the 
threshold, they became Princes again. 

“How nice and warm it is in here,” they cried. 
“Who has made a fire and who has cooked this 
dinner for us?” And they looked all over until they 
found the Princess behind the door. 

She threw her arms around their necks and 
said: “I am your sister and I have been so lonely 
without you and I have missed you so much that 
I have been looking for you these three years. If 
I could only help you and set you all free, I would 
gladly give up my own life.” 

“It would be too hard for you to do,” they said. 

“But tell me, please do tell me how it can be 
done,” and she kept on pleading with them until 
the youngest brother said: 





The Twelve Wild Ducks 


165 


“Yes, I will tell you. You must gather thistle¬ 
down and card it and spin it and weave it, and 
when you have done that, you must cut out and 
sew twelve shirts—one for each of us— and while 
you do all this you must neither speak, nor laugh, 
nor weep. If you do that we will be saved.” 

“But where can I find all this thistledown?” 
asked the Princess. 

“Ah” said the oldest brother sadly, “That is 
the hardest of all. To get that you must go out 
on the witches moor at mid-night and gather it, 
and the worst of it is that you must go alone and 
we do not wish you to do that.” 

But the Princess only smiled and said that she 
was not afraid, and when mid-night came, she bade 
her brothers good by and hurried out to the moor. 

The moon stood high in the heavens and the 
moor was full of thistles, nodding and gleaming in 
the breeze and shining soft and white in the moon¬ 
light. She began to gather them as fast as she 
could for there were sly ugly faces peering up at 
her from between the thistles and long scrawny 
arms reaching out at her, and she was terribly 
afraid. * But though her heart almost stood still 
within her, she kept on picking and did not utter 
a sound, and at last her bag was full. 





166 


The Twelve Wild Ducks 


Then she hurried home and set to work at once 
carding and spinning, and for a long time she went 
on this way, gathering the thistles at mid-night on 
the witches moor and carding and spinning by 
day. Besides this she kept the little hut in order, 
made the beds and cooked the meals, but all the 
time she never spoke a word, nor laughed nor 
wept. 

Now it so happened that one night when she 
was on the moor picking thistles, the young King 
of the land, who had lost his way while hunting, 
came to the verge of the moor and saw her. He 
could not understand who this lovely girl could be 
and why she was there alone at mid-night, gather¬ 
ing thistles. 

So he spoke to her and asked her, but she 
only shook her head and made no answer. The 
young king thought that he had never seen anyone 
so beautiful and he wanted to take her to the palace 
with him and marry her. He bent down and 
lightly lifted her upon his horse, but she looked so 
unhappy and pointed so eagerly to the bags with 
all her work in them, that the king understood and 
gathered them up too. 

Then the young princess smiled and went with 
him willingly for the king was so handsome and 
kind, that she loved him already. 







167 









































168 The Twelve Wild Ducks 


But when they came to the palace they were 
met by the King’s step-Mother, who disliked the 
princess as soon as she saw her because she was 
sweet and lovely. 

“Can you not see that the girl whom you want 
to marry is a witch?” she said to the king. “Else 
why does she not speak or laugh or weep?” 

But the king paid no attention to her at all, 
and the wedding was celebrated with great splen¬ 
dor, and they were very happy together. For all 
that, however, the princess did not forget to work 
on the shirts and nothing could induce her to 
talk, or laugh, or weep. 

But, after she had woven and cut all the thistles 
she had, she saw that there was still not enough for 
the shirts and so she resolved to go to the witches’ 
moor again. 

So one night when all in the castle slept, she 
slipped out and hurried off to the thistle moor. Now 
the King’s old step-mother saw her going, and 
knew what she was after, for you must know that 
she was really the wicked old witch that had 
changed the Princes into wild ducks. The old 
dame hurried to the King and woke him, saying: 

“If you will but come with me, I will show you 
what your lovely queen is doing, and when you 





The Twelve Wild Ducks 


169 


see it with your own eyes you will believe that she 
is a witch, as I told you.” 

At first the king would not listen to her, but 
when he found the queen’s bed empty, he decided 
to follow the old woman. So they went together 
out to the thistle moor and sure enough, there in 
the moonlight he could see his beautiful queen wan¬ 
dering about amidst the horrid witches and trolls. 

The poor King turned his face away and did 
not know what to think, for he loved his beautiful 
queen dearly and could not believe any evil of her. 

But the wicked old dame went about telling 
every one of it and at last the people believed it and 
came to the King saying: 

“We can not have a queen who is a witch, and 
we demand that she be burned at the stake.” 

Then the King was very unhappy for he saw 
that he could not save her but would have to give 
the order for her to be burned alive. 

So they gathered a big pile of wood and set it 
afire and when the flames started to shoot up into 
the sky, they started to put the queen on it. But 
she motioned to them to put twelve boards around 
the fire. When this was done she put the shirts on 
them, for they were all finished except the sleeve of 
the twelfth. 





170 The Twelve Wild Ducks 


Then there was heard a great rush of wings 
in the air and the twelve wild ducks came swoop¬ 
ing down from the great forest. Each of them 
snapped up a shirt in his bill, and then circled up 
in the sky again. 

“There! do you see,” cried the wicked old 
woman, “will you believe now that she is a witch? 
Hurry up and burn her before the fire gets too low.” 

“Oh,” said the King, “as to that it makes no 
difference. We have plenty of wood, but I have a 
mind to wait awhile and see how this affair turns 
out.” 

Scarcely had he spoken before twelve lads came 
riding up as fast as their steeds could carry them 
and fine looking lads they all were. The youngest 
one of them had a wild duck’s wing instead of his 
left arm. 

“What is it you are going to do?” they called to 
the King. 

“My people believe that my beautiful queen 
is a witch, and want her burned at the stake,” said 
the King sorrowfully. 

“Speak for yourself, sister dear,” they called to 
the queen, “you have saved us, now save yourself.” 

Then the young Queen turned to the King and 
his people and told them her story. Every one 






The youngest one of them had a duck’s wing for a left arm 


111 



172 _ The Twelve Wild Ducks 

listened with surprise and joy and the King was the 
most happy of all. But when she had finished they 
all grew stern again for they were angry at the 
wicked witch. So they took her before she could 
escape, bound and burned her in the big pile of 
wood. 

After that, the King and Queen and the 
twelve princes rode home to their Mother, and you 
can imagine what joy there was in the land when 
they arrived, for every one had given up all hope 
of ever seeing them again. And here they all were, 
saved by the courage and bravery of the lovely 
princess. 






T here was once a man whose name was 
Gudbrand, and as his farm lay away in the 
hills, he was called Gudbrand-on-the-Hillside. Now 
this man and his wife lived so happily together, 
that every thing the man did, the wife thought 
was well done, and she was sure that there was no 
one like him in the whole world. 

They owned their little farm, and had one 
hundred crowns at the bottom of their chest, and 
they also had two cows in the fields. 

But one day the wife said to Gudbrand: “It 
seems to me, dear, that we could sell one of the 
cows and get a little money to do as other people. 
We do not want to touch our savings in the chest. 


173 



174_ Gudbrand-on-the-Hillside 

of course, but it would be nice to have a little money 
and I think we could get along very well with only 
one cow.” 

Gudbrand thought that there was a good deal 
in what his wife said, so he took the cow and started 
off to town with her. But when he got there, he 
did not find anyone who wanted to buy a cow. 

“Well it really does not matter,” he thought 
to himself, “it may be just as well for us to keep 
her.” 

And so he began his walk homeward again. 
After a while he met a man with a horse that he 
was going to sell, and as Gudbrand thought that 
a horse would be much better than a cow,, he 
traded with him. 

A bit further on he met a man who was driv¬ 
ing a big fat pig before him and he at once thought 
that a pig would be better than a horse; so he traded 
with the man and got the pig. 

He walked on now, quite away, and then he 
met a man with a goat. This time he thought that 
he would rather have a goat than a pig, and traded 
again. A little later he met a man with a sheep, 
and it struck him that a sheep would be much 
better than a goat, so he traded with the man. 





Gudbrand-on-the^Hillside 175 

So he went on with his sheep until he met a 
man with a goose for which he traded his sheep. 
And then a long, long time after, he met a man 
with a cock. He thought right away how much 
better a cock would be than a goose, and traded 
with the man. 

Now it was getting late in the day and as he 
was getting hungry, he sold the cock for a shilling 
and bought some food. 

“For certainly it is better to get something to 
eat than to have a cock,” thought Gudbrand. 

After that he hurried home and when he came 
to his nearest neighbor’s house, he hurried in for a 
rest. 

“Well, how did you fare in town,” asked the 
neighbor. 

“Oh, just so-so,” answered Gudbrand, “I have 
nothing to boast of, but then I can not complain 
either,” and then he told the whole story from first 
to last. 

“Well,” said the neighbor, “I will wager you 
get a good scolding when you come home to your 
wife. I should not like to be in your place.” 

“Oh,” said Gudbrand, “It seems to me that 
I could have done worse. But it does not matter 





176 _ Gudbrand-onrthe-H illside 

one way or the other, for my wife thinks that what¬ 
ever I do is all right.” 

‘‘I have heard so,” said the man, “but I can not 
believe it.” 

“I should like to prove it to you,” said 
Gudbrand. 

“Well, I will tell you,” said the neighbor, “I 
have a hundred crowns in my chest that I will give 
you if you can really prove what you say.” 

Gudbrand stayed there until it was evening 
and after it was quite dark the two men went to¬ 
gether up the hill to Gudbrand’s house. The 
neighbor was to stand outside while Gudbrand 
went in and told his wife his story. 

“Good evening, wife,” said Gudbrand as he 
opened the door. 

“Good evening and welcome home,” said his 
wife. “I am so glad you have come home. Tell 
me how you did in town?” 

“Oh, not so bad,” said he, “No one wanted the 
cow, so I traded her for a horse.” 

“A horse!” cried his wife. “If that was not 
just what I wanted. Thank you so much. Now 
we can ride to church like other fine people. Run 
out and put the horse in the barn, child.” 





Gudbrand-on-the-Hillside 


177 


“Well, after all I have not got the horse. I 
traded it for a pig.” 

“Well of all things, that was the best you could 
have done. You think of everything and I do not 
know how to thank you. Now we can have a bit 
of bacon in the house and treat our friends when 
they come to see us. What would we do with a 
horse, anyway? People would think we were put¬ 
ting on airs if we could not walk to Church as we 
have always done. Child, go out and put the pig 
in the sty.” 

“But I have not the pig either, for I met a man 
with a goat so I traded the pig with him.” 

“Just think of that! if you do not always do 
the right thing. When I come to think of it, what 
would we do with a pig after all? People would 
only say that we ate up all we had. Now I can have 
milk and cheese besides keeping the goat. Run out 
child and tend the goat.” 

“But I have not the goat either, for I traded it 
for a sheep.” 

“Well, if you are not wonderful! You always 
think of something to please me, and a sheep was 
j ust what I wanted. What do we want with a goat? 
I should always be wasting my time taking it up the 





178 _ Gudbrand-on-the-Hillside 

hills and down again. No! it is quite different with 
a sheep. That will give us wool, clothing, and 
meat. Run out, child, and take care of the sheep.” 

“But I have not the sheep either, for I traded it 
again for a goose.” 

“Well, I am surely pleased to hear that. What 
would I do with a sheep anyway? I have no spin¬ 
ning wheel, and I have no mind to spend my time 
cutting and sewing clothes. We can buy our 
clothes as we have always done, and now we can 
have fine roasted goose that I have always liked so 
much. Then, too, I will get down with which to 
stuff my little pillow. Hurry up child and look 
after the goose.” 

“But I have not the goose, either, for I traded 
it for a cock.” 

“I do not know how you can think of every¬ 
thing. A cock! just think of that! That is as good 
as though you had bought an eight day clock, for 
every morning a cock crows at four o’clock and we 
will just have to bestir ourselves in good time. And 
after all, what would we do with a goose? I do not 
know how to cook it, and I can get plenty of cotton 
grass for my pillow. Run out and put up the cock, 
child.” 





Gudbrand-on-the-Hillside 


179 

. “But I have not the cock either, for when I had 
walked like that all day, I got so hungry that I had 
to buy myself something to eat.” 



“Now, I am so thankful you did that! You 
always do the right thing and just after my own 
heart. We do not need any cock after all for we 
are our own masters and can sleep as late as we 
please in the morning. The Lord be praised that 
I have you home safely. With you, I have no use 
for cock, goose, sheep or cow.” 

Then Gudbrand opened the door and called to 
his neighbor: “Well, what do you say now? Have I 
not won the hundred crowns?” 

And the neighbor had to admit that he cer¬ 
tainly had. 






F AR away in the midst of the deep, dark woods, 
there lived a man who had a great many sheep 
and goats, but he never could keep them because of 
the wolves. 

“I will trap that Greylegs yet,” he said to him¬ 
self, and set about making a pitfall for him. 

First he dug a deep hole down in the ground, 
then put a big pole in the middle of it. On the pole 
he put a board and on the board he put a little dog. 
Then he covered the pit with leaves and branches, 
and over these he spread some snow, so that Mr. 
Wolf could not see that there was a deep hole under¬ 
neath. 

When night came, the little dog got tired of 
staying there and began barking. 


180 












Father Bruin 


181 


“Bow-wow, bow-wow,” he said. 

Just then a fox came sneaking up, thinking 
that there was something to be had, so he made 
a great leap, and landed head over heels right down 
at the bottom of the pit. 

Later on in the night, the little dog got so tired 
and hungry that he just howled and howled: 

“Bow-wow, bow-wow.” 

Grey legs was just slinking up, and he, too, 
thought that there was something to be had, so he 
made a great jump and down he went into the pit, 
head first. 

It was now getting on towards morning, and 
how bitter and sharp the cold was. The snow had 
begun to fall again, and the little dog was shivering 
and very hungry. 

“Bow-wow, bow-wow-wow,” he yelped and 
kept right on until a great bear came lumbering 
along. 

The bear also thought he would like a little bite 
for breakfast, so he walked right over the boughs 
and branches, and down he fell with a great thud, 
right on top of the other two in the pit. 

Just then dawn was breaking, and an old 
beggar woman with a sack on her back, happened 





Father Bruin 


182 

to come along. When she saw the little dog that 
stood there yelping and barking, she knew it was 
a pitfall, and she was curious to see if any of the 
wild animals had fallen in the trap. So she kneeled 
down and peeped in. 

“So you have been caught in the trap, Rey¬ 
nard,” she said to the fox, for she saw him first. 
“Well, it serves you right—you chicken thief. 
Aye! and you too, Grey legs. Now you will be paid 
in full for all the sheep and goats you have taken. 
And, as for you, Bruin. If you have joined such 
company, you will surely have to pay for it with 
your life. You will be skinned and fleeced and your 
skull will be nailed to the wall!” 

She fairly screamed all this, bending over to 
look at them all. But just then the sack slipped over 
her head and pulled her down, right into the pit. 
So there they sat—all four of them, each in his own 
corner, and all glaring at each other, the fox in 
one corner, the wolf in another, the bear in the 
third and the old woman in the fourth. 

When it grew light, the fox began to look 
for a loop hole, so he twisted and squirmed about, 
trying to get out. 





Father Bruin 183 

“Be quiet, you sly thief,” cried the old woman, 
“why do you twist and turn around all the time. 
Just look at Father Bruin, he sits there as sober as 
a judge.” For she thought that she might as well 
try to make friends with the bear. 

And then came the man who had made the 
pitfall. First he pulled up the old woman, then he 
pulled up the beasts and killed them all, sparing 
neither Bruin nor Greylegs, nor Reynard—the sly 
thief, and he thought he had done pretty well that 
night. 






TH6 4 

cr in cess 

WHO 
WOUL 



, 'Pot se 
sJeNceo 


T HERE was once a King who had a daughter 
so cross and twisted in her words, that nobody 
could silence her, so he let it be known all over the 
land, that any one who could manage to get the 
last word with her, would win her in marriage and 
get half the Kingdom besides. 

You may be sure that there were enough who 
wanted to try, for it was not often that one had the 
chance to win a real Princess and half the King¬ 
dom. The gates of the palace were never still, for 
people came in crowds from East and West, some 
walking and some riding; but, so far, no one had 
been able to silence the Princess. 


184 


The Princess Who Would Not Be Silenced 185 



So he let it be known all over the land 
































186 The Princess Who Would Not Be Silenced 


At last the King got tired of all this trouble for 
nothing, so he had it given out that all those who 
tried and failed, should have their ears burned with 
red hot irons, the same that were used in marking 
his sheep. 

Now there were three brothers who had heard 
of this, and they thought that they would like to 
try their luck and see if one of them could win the 
Princess and half the Kingdom. As they were all 
three, very good friends and comrades, they started 
out together. 

When they had walked a little ways, Boots, the 
youngest, stopped and picked up something. 

“I have found something here!” he cried. 

“What did you find?” asked his brothers. 

“I found a dead crow,” said he. 

“Ugh, throw it away. You do not want that,” 
said both Brothers, who thought that they were 
much wiser than he. 

“Oh, I do not know,” said Boots, “I may as 
well take it along a little further.” 

After a bit, Boots stopped again and picked up 
something. 

“I have found something again,” he cried. 





The Princess Who Would Not Be Silenced 187 

“Well, what is it now?” asked the Brothers. 

“I found a willow twig,” answered Boots. 

“Oh my, a willow twig. What good will that 
do you? Throw it away.” 

“Oh, I think-1 may as well take it along,” said 
Boots, and they walked on. 

But a little while later, Boots stopped again 
and cried out: 

“Look here, Brothers. See what I have 
found.” 

“What is it now?” asked the two. 

“A broken saucer,” said Boots. 

“Now do be sensible and throw it away,” the 
Brothers said, “for it can be of no possible use to 
you.” 

“Oh, perhaps it will come in useful,” answered 
Boots, “at least, I may as well take it along.” 

A little later he again stopped and picked up 
something. 

“And what may it be this time?” asked the 
Brothers. 

“Two goat horns,” answered Boots. 

“What on earth do you want with them?” 
asked the Brothers. 





188 The Princess Who Would Not Be Silenced 

“Oh, I might as well take them along as they 
may come in useful.” 

They walked quite a bit further until Boots 
stopped again and cried : 

“Brothers! Oh Brothers! just see what I have 
found.” 

“Yes, you do find such wonderful things,” they 
laughed, “What is it this time?” 

“A wedge,” answered Boots. 

“Oh, throw it away!” they said impatiently, 
“for it can be of no possible use to you.” 

“Well, anyway, I think I will take it along,” 
said Boots. 

When they passed over the fields that belonged 
to the Palace, Boots stopped and picked up a worn 
out shoe sole. 

“Look, look at what I have found,” he shouted, 
holding it up for them to see. 

“If you could only pick up a little common 
sense,” they said, “it would be better for you. 
Throw that old thing away.” 

“No!” said Boots, “I am going to take it with 
me, and maybe it will help me to win the Princess 
and half the Kingdom.” 





The Princess Who Would Not Be Silenced 189 


“Yes, it will surely do that,” laughed the 
Brothers, and then they came to the palace and 
were shown in to the Princess—the oldest youth 
first. 

“Good day,” said he. 

“Good day again,” answered the Princess, as 
she twisted and turned about. 

“It is pretty warm in here,” he said. 

“It is much warmer On the hearth,” said the 
Princess and when he glanced over and saw the red 
hot irons all ready for use, he forgot all he had 
wanted to say, and could not even open his mouth. 

So he had his ears marked and was sent home. 

The next oldest youth, had no better luck. 

“Good day,” he said. 

“Good day,” answered the Princess, twisting 
and turning about in her chair. 

“It is very hot in here,” he said. 

“It is very much hotter in the hearth, said she, 
and when he saw the red hot irons he could not 
utter another word, so that was the end of him, and 
again the irons were out for use. 

Then it was Boot’s turn. “Good day,” said he. 

“Good day,” again answered the Princess who 
was tired and cross now. 





190 The Princess Who Would Not Be Silenced 

“It is very nice and warm in here,” said Boots. 

“It is hotter in the hearth,” said she, but Boots 
was not frightened. 

“Why that is fine,” he said, “Maybe I can bake 
my crow over there.” 

“I am afraid she will burn,” said the Princess. 

“Oh, never mind, I will twist this willow twig 
around her,” said Boots. 

“It is too loose,” said she. 

“Then I will put in a wedge,” said Boots, and 
pulled the wedge out of his pocket. 

“The fat is dripping from her,” said the 
Princess. 

“Well, then I will just put this under her,” said 
Boots, and took out the broken saucer. 

“You are very twisted in your words,” said the 
Princess. 

“Oh, no, my words are not twisted,” said 
Boots, “but this is,” he added, as he pulled out one 
of the goat’s horns. 

“I never saw anything to equal that,” cried the 
Princess. 

“Here is the equal, if you please,” and he 
brought out the other one. 






191 
























































































































































































































192 The Princess Who Would Not Be Silenced 

“ You think you can wear out my soul, do you?” 
cried the Princess. 

“No, I am not going to wear out your soul, for I 
have a sole that is worn out already,” and with that, 
he pulled out the old shoe sole. 

Then for once in her life, the Princess could 
not find a word to say. 

“Well, you are mine now!” said Boots, and so 
she was. 

Thus Boots really won the Princess and half 
the Kingdom. 










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